


War Never Changes (Rewritten)

by NukeRose



Category: Fallout 4, The Fosters (TV 2013)
Genre: M/M
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2016-05-06
Updated: 2016-10-17
Packaged: 2018-06-06 19:18:17
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 7
Words: 25,122
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/6766591
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/NukeRose/pseuds/NukeRose
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>War... War never changes. Jude and Connor have survived many things, from heartbreak to disease. After undergoing a medical experiment by Vault-Tec to cure Connor's cancer that ends up slowing their aging, they defy death itself. But will they survive the next war? With their oldest friend by their side, and a host of companions to help them, will they survive the war with the sinister Institute?</p><p>(Rewritten version of an older story that I deleted months ago.)</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Prologue

**Prologue**

Everybody knows how the Great War happened... Everybody knows that mankind went to hell because it couldn't sustain itself anymore and destroyed itself fighting over what resources were left... But few are alive today who have seen it firsthand.

My name is Connor Alexander Stevens. I was born August 5th 2000, seventy seven years and two months before the Great War, to Adam and Miranda Stevens in Sacred Cross Hospital in San Diego, California. I held the rank of Captain in the United States Army, from which I was honorably discharged in 2076. Before I held rank in the United States Armed Forces, I was an engineer.

I am married to my husband Jude Adams Foster-Stevens, and have been since February 22nd 2022. We met when I was thirteen and he was twelve and soon after we fell in love. Soon after y dad interfered and tried to keep us apart. A long, complicated messy story involving lies, copious amounts of angst, a couple stolen kisses and a gunshot wound to the foot followed before we finally succeeded in getting together. We won that war.

The next war was a war against the continual disapproval of my father, and we lost that war. We suffered through a failed long distance relationship when I moved to L.A for a short time because I couldn't stand to live with Dad's homophobic attitude. During this time, the distance killed our relationship, and we broke up and lost contact for a short time until my dad finally came around after a year and a half of me in L.A, and I was able to come home and reunite with Jude. After three months of a renewed friendship that involved a ton of walking on eggshells around each other, Jude and I rekindled our relationship in the same way it began; with a midnight kiss during a camping trip.

In the end, we won that final war. We won the right to be together. We won the right to love each other, and we won to live as we pleased with no interference.

We watched with glee and held each other, sobbing tears of joy as the Supreme Court of the United States ruled in favor of the nationwide legalization of same-sex marriage on June 26th 2015.

We got married and everything was going fine. We were happy. Then, two years after we got married, I got sick.

I was diagnosed with an aggressive, barely operable form of Leukemia. The day we found out was one of the worst in my entire life. The doctors told us that I only had a thirty percent chance of making it to remission. I still have nightmares of being held by Jude as he sobbed heartbrokenly into my shoulder. The sight of his heartbreak was the one thing that could really break me.

Then we heard of Vault-Tec.

We both remember the first time Vault-Tec was ever in the news. It was in 2025. The year I turned twenty five years old. I had been going through chemotherapy for over a year, and it wasn't doing a damned thing. I remember wondering why the company was called Vault-Tec. There were ads in the paper asking for people to take part in clinical trials for a new drug their medical sciences division had developed. The drug was supposed to slow down the effects of aging, and dramatically increase a person's life span. My beloved and I were intrigued, so we looked into it. We saw this clinical trial as a last ditch effort to save my own life from the leukemia, which was slowly killing me. The chemotherapy was doing absolutely nothing, and the thought of me being cured was all it took to convince Jude to agree.

The trial itself was simple. Jude and I went in at our scheduled time, and we were sedated and injected with the drug. After a couple of hours, we woke up and were allowed to leave. Three days after we took part in the clinical trials, the drug was banned by the Food and Drug Administration, and a month later the medical sciences division of Vault-Tec split off to become Med-Tek. Little to no reason was given for the banning of the drug. Some people said that the drug was an example of immoral tampering with human life, and others said it was a matter of ethics. We were among only one hundred people to participate.

Over the first few weeks, we started to notice side effects. I broke my leg on the job. When I woke up the next day, I walked downstairs in a sleep deprived stupor and was halfway through my bowl of cereal before I realized that my leg was healed. Jude cut himself shaving the same morning and the cut healed almost immediately. Later, I went in for a chemotherapy treatment, only to find out that the cancer was gone. The doctors were flabbergasted, and the shock of being cured caused me to faint. After a few tests, Jude and I found out that the drug hadn't just slowed our aging. It boosted our immune systems, and increased our bodies' responses to physical injury.

Being as close to immortal as is humanly possible has its benefits. We've lived long enough to see miracles of technology, to see the things we once thought as science fiction become a reality. I owned a fusion powered car (although I sold it soon after when I saw the mess caused by a crash between two of them and the ensuing explosion.). You could have a robot butler called a Mr. Handy, a floating robot with a charming British accent a friendly personality. They invented suits of fusion powered battle armor, which Jude and I would eventually become intimately acquainted with. Miracle medicine that can immediately cure radiation poisoning, injections that immediately cure all injuries and addictions. Hell, some psycho in Germany even built a working lightsaber and posted the schematics online. Jude and I both tried to build one, but it proved beyond our capabilities.

Our long life, however, had also bore a curse.

Jude and I were both born in the year 2000. It's now 2077. We are seventy seven years old, and we don't look a day over thirty. While we've remained youthful, we've suffered through the grueling torture that is watching our entire family wither away and die while we could do nothing to stop it. Our fathers, our mothers, his siblings… They're almost all gone now, and they took a piece of us with them every time. Today, the only surviving member of Jude's forever family is his older brother Jesus, and Jude and I believe that the only reason he's still alive is because he's too fucking stubborn to die.

As if to add the cherry to the top of the cake that seemed to be made entirely of untold quantities of human feces, we've also lived long enough to live the special torture of watching the entire world unravel. We should have known that our first "wars" wouldn't be our last. Losing my parents in 2068 is what drove me to enlist in the REAL war. Despite me spending months trying desperately to dissuade him of the notion, Jude enlisted with me.

The Resource Wars.

The war that eventually spelled the final death nail in the coffin for mankind and the world as we knew it. The years of runaway recourse use had led to shortages in damned near everything. Gasoline. Nuclear materials. Every form of fuel. Eventually, things got so bad that the United Nations disbanded, the United States annexed Canada (which cause riots all across Canada which the army was forced to step in to stop them), and the fifty states were reformed into thirteen commonwealths.

Then, China invaded Anchorage in Alaska, which was the home to one of our last running oil refineries. My husband and I were among the soldiers who eventually repelled them. We fought long and we fought hard. The Chinese were stubborn bastards, that's for sure. Marching into the refinery, side by side with Jude, wearing T-60e Power Armor is something I'll never forget for as long as we all live. We were present to watch Chinese General Jingwei commit suicide with his electrified sword. The Chinese were repelled, and Anchorage was liberated. We soldiers were welcomed home as heroes, for however briefly we were able to go home. That wasn't the end of the fighting of course. We weren't discharged as we'd hoped we'd be. We were reassigned and redeployed.

We fought in many battles in the war. When North Korea and China invaded Japan, our unit was there. We fought all over Japan until it fell. The Battle of Nagasaki. The Decimation at Hiroshima. The Loss of Kyoto. The Sacking of Tokyo. We watched them all burn. The Chinese and the Koreans tore through Japan with no mercy, burning any defending city to the ground, devouring any recourse they could get their hands on.

Jude and I were both injured during the Sacking of Tokyo. When the Generals ordered the retreat, our positioned was dialed in for a missile strike. They missed, but only but a couple of yards, and it was still enough to maim me. The last thing I remember of that day was being thrown twenty feet by the explosion. We were hauled onto a Vertibird headed for the USS Abraham Lincoln, which sat of the coast of Japan. I awoke five days later, and I was informed that my leg was amputated. Turns out our enhanced healing abilities can't regrow a ruined limb, even with the help of Stimpaks. Jude's injuries were fixed with a combination of his enhanced healing and the administration of a couple of stimpaks. I was issued an advanced prosthetic, and we were both discharged. We went home to San Diego, and then not even a month later we moved to Boston. Staying in San Diego meant that we would have to live with constant reminders of our former lives. Our parents. Our families. Our friends long since decayed away to dust.

We ended up settled in a place called Sanctuary Hills, a small Cul de sac northwest of Concord and about an hour's drive north of downtown Boston. There's a statue right across the bridge which is a monument to the original Minute Men of the American Revolutionary War. There was also a Vault-Tec Vault built nearby. Vault 111. We received notification that we both automatically had a place reserved inside in the event of a nuclear war. When we asked why, we were told that all of the original one hundred trial volunteers were immediately reserved a spot in any Vault in the country.

We were glad for that. Jude and I both knew that the world as we knew it wouldn't be there by the next year. The world stood on the brink of total nuclear war.

Our neighbor, Nate, and his wife Nora were both terrified of what the future holds. Nate is one of our oldest friends. We met him in the army, and when we were discharged we ended up buying the house next to his. He is like a brother to us and Nora is like our sister. We were at their wedding, and we were there the day their son, Shaun was born. I am Shaun's godfather.

We all knew how dire the situation was. The President of the United States was operating the country from on office aboard a Poseidon Energy Oil Rig off the West Coast. They called it the Enclave initiative. It wasn't until much later that Jude and I would find out just how badly _that_ went wrong.

This is where our story begins. The day was October 23rd, 2077, and we all knew where we were headed. We were all afraid. Nate and Nora were afraid. Jude was afraid. I was afraid. We all knew our third war was on its way, and the one thing we've all learned about war?

War never changes.


	2. October 23rd 2077

RING, RING!

I jolted awake violently as the thrice damned alarm clock blasted its infernal call. I was partially glad to be awake, because it means that I was no longer trapped in the infernal nightmare that had once again recurred. Next to me, Jude grumbled in his sleepy state. He sat up, his hair sticking up in every direction adorably.

"Shut the damned thing off." He grumbled irritably.

I obliged, and leaned over and slammed my fist down onto the top of the alarm clock angrily. It stopped ringing, but it also stopped telling the time. Jude looked at me exasperatedly, and I had the good sense to look sheepish.

"Really, Connor?" Jude grumbled, "You didn't have to break the fucking thing. What's wrong with pressing the button? That's the third one you've broken this month."

I gave him a sheepish shrug and flopped onto my back and stared at the ceiling with a loud groan.

"Ugh." I mumbled, "Today's gonna suck."

"I can tell already." Jude agreed, "When are we supposed to be over to Nate's, again?"

I looked at my wristwatch, and ancient thing made of silver that my dad had gifted me for my eighteenth birthday. It said it was 7:30 in the morning.

"About an hour and a half." I said, watching my husband sit up and wipe the sleep out of his eyes.

"Might as well get to it then, he'll kill us if we're late." He said as he threw the covers off of him and stumbled to his feet with a groan, stretching with a loud yawn.

"Nah," I disagreed, "Nora will protect us. He's more scared of her than he'll ever be of us."

Jude snorted.

"The hell she will." Jude retorted, "If we missed sharing the misery of helping prepare Nate for his speech, she'd flail us alive."

I snorted and cracked a grin.

"How much do you wanna bet he's practicing that stupid speech right now, as we speak?" He asked moments later.

"Oh, I know he is." I agreed, "I still don't know why he volunteered for it, to be honest. He hates going to the veteran's hall, and he hates public speaking even more. The last time he went was back in December and that was only because Maxson was in town before he went back to Mariposa."

"Have you heard from him? Roger?" He asked, "Since he called us?"

I sighed.

Roger Maxson was an old friend of ours. He was a Captain in the army, and his devotion to his post and the people he served with was admirable. Which is why it came as an immense surprise to both Jude and I when we got a phone call from him nearly two weeks ago on the twelfth, stating that him and the entire population of Mariposa Military Base and deserted the army. He didn't tell us much, but what he did tell us scared the both of us.

"They betrayed us, Jude, Connor. They were fucking experimenting on people with the fucking FEV."

He told us that he'd ordered all of the scientists interrogated and executed for their part in the atrocity, and he had already declared his and his troop's desertion over an open army radio broadcast and was slightly bewildered by Army's lack of response. We wished him the best of luck and told him to give our best to his wife Melinda and his son James. We haven't heard from any of them sense.

I shook myself from my musings as I moved to get out of the bed, wincing as I stood and weight was placed on my prosthetic leg. It was a top of the line prosthetic. It looked like something straight out of the old Star Wars movies that Jude and I watched as kids.

Jude noticed the wince.

"Leg bothering you?" He asked, sounding concerned and taking a step toward me.

"Yeah, it'll be fine, trust me." I said softly as I waved his concern off with a small smile, "Just the same morning ache as always. Come on, we gotta get ready."

It took us longer than usual to get ready.

We sat down at the table for breakfast, and I had a bowl of cereal. I missed the cereal we had when we were younger. Frosted Flakes, Cheerios, Fruit Loops, Fruity Pebbles. Compared to all of those, Sugar Bombs were a fricken joke. It says on the box that they have 100% daily value of sugar, which is ridiculous. They're basically just little balls of sugar that you eat with milk. The only reason I eat them is because the sugar rush is enough to wake me up. Jude refuses to touch them, branding them a travesty and an abomination, an insult to cereal. Because he didn't want to cook, Jude made do with a liquid breakfast of extremely bitter coffee.

After we had consumed or morning "feast", it was pointed out that I needed a shower… Which led to Jude and I sharing a shower, which inevitably led to us getting... well, distracted, by each other. A full half hour later, we exited the shower feeling refreshed, relaxed and… well yeah. Then I had to shave. We stood in front of the bathroom mirror, wearing only our boxers as we finished getting ready to head over.

"Are you sure you wanna shave?" Jude asked jokingly, "I was kind of getting used to you having a little scruff again."

I scoffed lightly. I knew what he was referring to the last time and only other time I had let my facial hair get this long, which was when I was a teenager in high school. During our junior year at Anchor Beach, my facial hair had finally grown in as actual hair and not peach fuzz, so I let it grow a bit. Jude had thought I was crazy, and I eventually agreed when it became so itchy and irritating that I buzzed it all off.

"Yeah, I am. You know I look ridiculous when it gets too long." I said, running my hand over my growing beard.

He ran his fingers through his hair. The hair dresser called it a shaggy suave haircut. He turned to look at me, raising an eyebrow.

"You do not look ridiculous, babe." Jude deadpanned, "You're faaaaar too hot to look ridiculous."

I laughed, and pulled him close and kissed him. As with every other time we kissed, it became heated very quickly and after only a tragically brief moment, he pulled away.

"As much as I would like to, again, we do have places to be." He said, breathlessly.

After that it only took us ten minutes to finish getting ready. Jude was dressed in a white button up shirt and tan pants, while I was wearing my signature ensemble of a flannel shirt and blue jeans. Soon we were stepping out the front door into the crisp late October air.

It was a beautiful morning. The sun was out, barely any clouds in the sky. It wasn't too hot, and it wasn't too cold. It was a perfect day.

We walked down the sidewalk, glancing at the Vault Tec van parked right in the middle of the street. Jude stopped in his tracks and glared at the van incredulously.

"Really?" Jude snarked sarcastically, causing me to snort, "Yeah, let's just park right in the middle of the fucking street. People might need to drive on the grass to get around me, but it's fine. Real nice, you stupid fucking dumb ass."

After nearly dragging Jude away, and nearly cracking a rib from suppressing my laughter, we walked up the path to Nate's front door, passing some guy in a suit in the process. Jude noticed the Vault-Tec logo on his trench coat and glared at him. We knocked on the door and only had to wait a second before the door opened.

"I wondered when you two would get here." Nate teased with a knowing smirk, "Have a long morning, have we?"

"Oh be quiet." I said jokingly, pushing my way into the house, "Hey Nora."

"Hey Connor, Jude." She said from where she stood by the counter reading the newspaper.

"Who was that outside?" I asked.

"Rep from Vault Tec. We've got a spot reserved in the Vault nearby." Nate explained.

"That's good." I said, "You can never be too careful."

"Yeah, Nora said he's been coming by every day." Nate said.

"Yeah, they do that." Jude said, "Annoying idiots did the same thing to us until they caught us on the way out to go to the store one day."

"Are they always like that?" Nora asked.

"As far as I know." I answered, "I mean they are signing people up for bunks in fallout shelters when the world is on the brink of nuclear war. So it stands to reason that they'd be persistent."

"I guess." Nora said, "And hey, it's piece of mind. That's worth a little paperwork, right?"

"For you and Shaun, no price is too high." Nate said.

"Haha. Good answer." Nora teased.

"I have my moments." Nate said.

Jude and I rolled our eyes in perfect unison at the sheer amount of cheesiness the two were spouting.

"I'm gonna need cavities filled from you two." Jude joked teasingly.

"Oh, please." Nate shot back, "You two are worse than us, and you know it."

At that moment, from across the house a loud cry rang out. I could vaguely hear a voice with an English accent speaking, but it was almost completely drowned out by the caterwauling of my godson.

"Codsworth trying to comfort him again?" Jude asked with a raised eyebrow.

"You know, I was nervous about it at first." Nora said, "But Codsworth is actually really good with Shaun."

Codsworth came floating down the hallway. I smiled at the sight of the robotic butler. It had been a gift from Jude and me for their anniversary a month ago.

"Mr. Jackson. Shaun has been changed, but he absolutely refuses to calm down." Codsworth said, "I think he needs some of that 'paternal affection' that you seem to be so good at."

"Thanks Codsworth." Nate said and headed down the hallway towards Shaun's room.

"I'm glad he's not useless." I said quietly, "We spent a lot of money on Codsworth."

"He's like a part of the family." Nora promised, and we heard the crying stop, "Come on, let's go spy on Nate."

We followed her down the hallway to Shaun's room and stood at the door.

Nate was standing beside the crib, his hand extended to tickle Shaun's stomach. The baby was giggling and cooing happily at his father, and Nate had a carefree smile on his face as he gazed upon his son. It often shocked Jude and I just how suited for fatherhood Nate was. When we first met him, he was a slightly arrogant and reckless playboy who had more claimed notches on his bedpost than either of us could believe. It was only after he met Nora that he started to change. She couldn't stand him at first, but eventually he deflated his ego a bit and she agreed to a date. Seeing our friend standing over a crib, smiling while tickling his infant son reminded us again just how much people could change.

"How are the two most important men in my life doing?" Nora asked, "Spin the mobile a bit, he loves that."

Nate reached up and gave it a spin, and it emitted a soft tune as it spun.

We all stepped into the room, and Nora approached the crib.

"Hey, how's my little guy? Much better now huh?"

Shaun babbled back in baby speak.

"Listen, I was thinking maybe we could all go to the park after breakfast." Nora suggested, "The weather should hold up."

"Sure, sounds like fun." Nate agreed.

"Yeah, fresh air sounds good." I agreed.

"SIR? MA'AM? MR and MR STEVENS?"

We all turned to the door, confused as to why Codsworth would be shouting across the house. I was immediately tense, because in Codsworth's voice I noticed a peculiar tone.

It was a tone of panic.

"YOU SHOULD COME AND SEE THIS!" Codsworth shouted.

"Codsworth? What's wrong?" Nora called, "We should go see what's wrong."

She picked Shaun up out of his crib and we all headed into the hallway towards the living room

The television was still on. The news reporter looked terrified, and we were about to find out why.

"...Followed by... yes, followed by flashes. Blinding flashes... sounds of explosions. We're trying to get confirmation..."

Oh no. Oh god, no.

"Wait, what did he just say?" Nora asked.

"Shh!" We all said.

"We seem to have lost contact with our affiliate station. Stand by." The news reporter said.

"Connor?" Jude asked, reaching out and latching onto my arm.

"Hold on." I said.

_"Please god, no," I thought to myself, "Please god, don't let this be happening. I'm begging you, God. Please, no."_

"Yes, w-we do, we do have coming in... that's um... confirmed reports. I repeat confirmed reports of nuclear detonations in New York and Pennsylvania... my god." The news reporter finished speaking, and the television cut out seconds later.

My heart dropped into my stomach.

Detonations. Nuclear Detonations.

It was happening.

As if to impress on us the true seriousness of the situation, the deafening sound of the air raid sirens in nearby Concord started going off.

"Oh shit." I muttered as I felt Jude shove his shaking hand into mine.

Nate whirled around and ran for the door. He flung the door open and turned back to us. The look on his face was a distinct mix of terror, horror, and overwhelming panic.

"We... we need to get to the Vault. NOW!" He panted.

"I've got Shaun. LET'S GO!" Nora shouted. Together we all tore out of the house and down the sidewalk.

"Codsworth! Stay safe buddy." Nate shouted as we fled the house.

"And you too, sir! Oh, my…" Codsworth shouted after us.

When we left the house this morning, it was calm. Now, not even twenty minutes later, it was a scene of utter pandemonium. Everywhere, people were panicking. Screaming and trying to shove suitcases in their cars. In the distance, faint under the sound of the sirens and Vertibirds, we could hear screaming. It frightened me to imagine just how much chaos was probably enveloping downtown Boston at that moment as we were sprinting down the street as a Vertibird was flying low overhead, a message being broadcast over its loudspeaker.

"Residents of Sanctuary Hills, if you are registered, evacuate to Vault 111 immediately."

Needless to say we didn't have to be told twice.

We ran down the sidewalk, nearly knocking over a few of our neighbors in the process. We left the concrete and bolted onto a dirt path, then over a wooden footbridge and up a hill. My surroundings barely registered in the face of my panic, but somewhere I recognized the fact that within the hour, the lush colorful leaves on the trees would be nothing but ashes, and billions of people were about to die. This realization merely spurred me on, and I ran faster, dragging Jude behind me.

We passed a uniformed soldier who was shouting.

"IF YOU'RE IN THE VAULT PROGRAM, GET TO THE GATE!"

We came to a fence, guarded by military personnel, including two soldiers in T-60 power armor. We got there just in time to see the Vault Tec representative be denied entrance. He was shouting about the absurdity of the whole situation, and demanded entrance. One of the power armored soldiers started to spiel up his minigun, and the man backed down. Nate, now thoroughly panicked, pushed the man aside and stepped up to the officer.

"We need to get in! We're on the list." Nate said frantically.

"Infant, adult male, adult female." The man listed off, "Okay go ahead."

"Thank you." Nora said frantically.

They bolted passed the officer, before remembering us and stopping to wait.

"And you two are?" The officer asked.

"Connor and Jude Stevens." I said as we stepped up.

The officer's head shot up, and he snapped to attention and saluted us.

"Go ahead in sirs. Godspeed."

"Thank you, soldier." Jude returned, "And good luck."

"YOU FOUR! THIS WAY!" A guard shouted.

"What is gonna happen to all those people outside the gate?" Nora asked the guard.

"We're doing everything we can! Now keep moving!" He responded.

We sprinted up the path, Vault security leading us to the cog shaped elevator platform. "

"Quickly, step on the platform! In the center!"

We stepped on the platform right next to Nate, Nora and Shaun.

"We're almost there, we'll be okay." Nate said to Nora and us, "I love you! Both of you! All of you!"

"We love you too." Nora responded.

"Till the end brother." I responded.

BOOOM!

The flash was blinding, and everybody covered their eyes. I uncovered my eyes and stared as a mushroom cloud rose to the south.

"SEND IT DOWN NOW!" Somebody shouted.

"HOLD ON!" Nate shouted as the shockwave raced closer and closer at the speed of sound.

The shockwave was getting closer and the platform was slow, and in a moment of panic I grabbed Jude.

"HIT THE DECK!" I shouted as the elevator finally started to descend into the depths of the bunker. I threw us to the ground, and I lay on my back as Jude clung to me and we descended to safety just as the shockwave passed overhead. I watched as the blue Massachusetts sky turned orange before the hatch slid shut as we descended further into the darkness. Nora was panting heavily.

"We did it... we made it."

When the elevator came to a stop at the bottom of the shaft, I helped Jude to his feet and turned to him, hugging him tightly to my chest.

"We made it." I choked into his shoulder, "Oh thank god, we made it."

"If we'd have only been a minute later..." Jude said terrified.

"Don't think about that, baby." I told him softly, "We're safe. We're alive. We're gonna be alright. I promise."

"All residents, this way." A vault official said, "Up the stairs."

"Welcome to your new home."

We proceeded in a daze up the stairs and into the line of people forming, completely ignoring what most of the officials were saying. The vault had a very sterile air to it. I snapped out of my daze as Jude and I stepped up to the table. A woman standing there handed us each a blue jumpsuit with the number 111 emblazoned across the back in yellow. We followed the Vault Doctor down the hall until he stopped us and directed us to the side.

"You two have pods of your own." He told us quietly.

We nodded and followed him, before nodding goodbye to Nate and Nora.

Jude and I both knew the Vault's secret. We were told by the CEO of Vault Tec himself when we were told of our reservation. We both knew the Vault was really a cryogenics facility. He led us down a hallway, deeper into the vault, until we came to a door. The door opened and we were led into a room with two lone pods inside.

"The pods were designed to your requests." The doctor said to us, "Failsafes have been built in incase life support fails, and fusion generators will power the pods in the event of a vault-wide power failure. Should the rest of the life support systems to the vaults other pods fail, your pods will release you."

"Good to know." I said vacantly, still in a daze.

I turned to Jude, who had removed his vault suit from its bag and was putting it on. I did the same, and then I wrapped him in a fierce hug. I buried my face in his shoulder, and he did the same to me. We stood there for a moment, trying to find security in the fact that we were both still alive when mere yards above us the entire planet was engulfed in nuclear fire.

"I love you, baby." I whispered brokenly into his neck, "I love you so much."

"I love you too." He responded, "I'll see you on the other side."

We separated and climbed into the pods. As the pod door descended and sealed I only had a second to fear the world Jude and I would wake up to, before the sedative being pumped into the air took effect and the world faded away to black.


	3. Unthawed

Connor's POV:

"Critical failure in Vault Cryogenic Array, all Vault residents must evacuate immediately."

The world faded back in accompanied by a cacophonous siren blaring in the background. The first of my senses to recover from disorientation was my hearing and I winced at the sound. My eyes came into focus as the door to the pod opened and I tried to take a step forward. I have no idea how long we were in cryogenic stasis, but I do know that my legs aren't working because I immediately fall flat on my face, and almost immediately afterwards, so does Jude. I lay there on the metal floor and take a moment to survey my surroundings after I turn over to lie on my back. The first thing I notice is that water is leaking from the ceiling. The once white walls were now rusty. I concluded that we were in stasis for a very long time.

"W-what happened? What's going on?" Jude mumbled wearily from where he was also sprawled out on the floor.

I try to speak, and immediately start to cough. It takes a moment to recover, but when I do I turn my head to look at him.

"I d-don't know. The Vault's cryogenic systems must have failed." I panted.

"How long has it been?" He asked.

"I have no idea." I said, and closed my eyes for a second and turned my head. I opened my eyes... and stared right into the face of a human skeleton.

"GAAAH!" I screamed, crawling away from it breathing heavily.

After taking another moment to recover from this latest shock, I noticed that the skeleton was wearing a Vault jumpsuit under his lab coat, and had a Pip Boy around its wrist.

"It must be one of the doctors." I said quietly.

I crawled forward and snatched the Pip-Boy from the skeleton's arm and gave it a once over before I secured it to my own left forearm. I pressed the on button, and it came to life immediately. I had always wanted one of these things, but before the nukes they were ridiculously expensive. They had cost upwards of $3000, and I wasn't about to pay that much money for what at the end of the day amounted to a glorified wristwatch or a wrist mounted laptop… no matter how bad to the fucking bone they were.

The feeling in my legs returned, and I shakily got to my feet, as Jude pulled himself up onto the table.

"Are you okay, baby?" I asked him.

"Yeah. Just give me a second for the nausea to pass." Jude panted, "I'll be fine. You okay?"

"Yeah, I'm fine." I confirmed.

"What day is it? How long were we out?" He asked.

I raised my arm and flicked through the Pip-Boy menu, coming to rest on a map of the region. Our location was already marked, and at the bottom left corner of the screen was the date.

I did a double take.

The month and day hadn't changed, but the year sure had.

"Holy shit... Jude, its October 23rd 2287."

Jude looked at me as if I'd just professed a desire to have wild monkey sex with a suit of power armor. And by that, I mean he looked at me as if I'd taken complete leave of my senses.

"Did you just say...?"

"2287. Jude... it's been 210 years." I said shakily.

Jude collapsed against the wall and rested there for a minute.

"Good god." He finally said, and his hand touched something on the table. He turned to see another Pip-Boy abandoned on the table, covered with dust. He smiled slightly and picked it up, rubbing the dust off as he secured it to his arm and flicked the arm switch.

"How nice of them to just leave these lying around, huh?" I joked.

"Ha, yeah. These should make things easier." He said lightly.

It always amazed me how quickly he adjusted to shock and new situations.

It was at that moment that we heard a familiar voice shouting in a panicked tone.

"COME ON! THERE'S GOTTA BE A RELEASE!"

Jude and I immediately became alert. I could tell from the tone and volume of Nate's voice that something was very wrong.

"That's Nate." I said, "That cannot be good."

"Come on, something's obviously wrong." Jude said, and together we slowly made our way out of the room and down the hallway.

Along the way, we saw not a single living soul. We did however, see more skeletons. Every single one of them was wearing a Vault 111 jumpsuit.

"What the hell happened here, Connor?" Jude asked, fear in his voice, "A-Are we all that's left?"

"I have no idea, and I don't know if I want to know." I said as we approached the door to another cryo-bay.

Nate was standing in front of a cryo pod, both hands wrapped around the release lever, pulling on it with all his might.

"come on, Come on, COME ON!" He screeched, and the lever finally gave, "OH G-GOD!"

Tears streamed down his face as the pod opened with a hiss. Nate stumbled back, a chocked sob escaping his throat as he collapsed to his knees and screamed in agony.

"NO! NORA, NO!" He sobbed.

My heart dropped into the deepest recesses of my stomach, and Jude and I stumbled forward. Nora sat in her pod, and she was clearly dead. She had a single gunshot wound to the chest. Nate turned and saw us standing there. He rose up long enough for us to move forward and wrap him in a hug before he recommenced sobbing. Jude and I stood there with our oldest friend, sobbing with him at the loss of our sister in all but blood.

It was ten whole minutes later that I noticed that Shaun was nowhere to be seen.

"Where's Shaun?" I asked gently, wiping away my own tears.

Nate pulled out of the hug and wiped his eyes.

"I woke long enough to see it. The killed her, and took S-Shaun." He said as his voice turned to a growl as his sadness was replaced with anger, "Some bald headed fucker and a bitch in a hazmat suit."

He turned back to Nora's body and stepped forward. He reached out and stroked her cheek once before reaching to take hold of her left hand. Gently, he removed the wedding ring and stared at it for a moment before pocketing it.

"I'll find whoever did this, and I'll get Shaun back." Nate whispered to her, pulling the lever to reseal the pod, "I promise."

I put a comforting hand on his shoulder, as Jude moved to examine the other pods. He tried to open one of them. When he pulled the lever to release the pod, the speakers crackled to life and the vault computer made an announcement.

"Malfunction in cryostasis pod manual release override."

He stood back, his brow furrowed. He walked over to a terminal that was on the wall and accessed it. Thirty seconds later, he sighed and closed his eyes with a shake of his head.

"Guys, everybody else is dead." Jude muttered.

"What?" I asked, startled.

"They asphyxiated. All of them." Jude continued grimly, "We're all that's left."

"Why would Vault-Tec do this?" Nate asked angrily.

"I heard a rumor once that some of the Vaults were going to be set up as social experiments." I said, not revealing the fact that Jude and I knew about the cryostasis pods before we ever set foot in the vault, "I just didn't think any of the rumors were true. I guess now we know."

"In any event. We need to get out of here. Now, preferably." Jude said.

"You don't have to tell us twice." Nate said.

With one last glance at Nora's body, we all proceeded out of the room as quickly as we could. The first thing we noticed was the Vault's continually apparent desertion. Not a single person to be seen. None of the doctors, none of the scientists. It was quickly becoming clear that the three of us were the only three left alive. We proceeded down the hallway towards the main door to the vault entrance, and when Nate pressed the button to open the door the vault's computer announced that there was a malfunction in the door's release mechanism.

"God dammit." Nate cursed angrily, "First everybody's dead, and now the fucking door won't work? Just wonderful."

"Looks like it's the long way around." Jude said.

"Stay together." I said, "Come on, through here."

We turned back towards the door on our right and upon approaching it, it slid right open. We ventured down the hallway, and we passed a table with a security baton on it. I grabbed it and extended it, giving it a quick twirl to test its weight. We passed a small room with a terminal in next, and sitting next to the terminal was a syringe and needle.

"Jude, grab that Stimpak." I said, "We'll need it."

The Stimpak. Another miracle of science. It was created by Med-Tec, and it was the final result of the experiment that Jude and I took part in so long ago. When Vault-Tec's original result was banned by the FDA, Med-Tec bought the patents and everything else to do with the project. Eventually, the Stimpak was developed. A miracle of medicine, a shot capable of healing even the most grievous of injuries in a matter of a few short seconds.

"That'll definitely come in handy once we get outside." Nate said with a touch of fear in his voice.

That fear was warranted. We had absolutely no idea what we'd face once we reached the surface. Although we soon got an infinitesimally small taste, when we stepped into another room and were greeted with a sight that made Jude cringe and hide behind me. On the hall window, was the biggest cockroach I had ever seen in my entire life. It was the size of a cocker spaniel, and I could feel my skin crawling.

"Giant... roaches?" Nate stammered in disbelief, "What the hell?"

"You have gotta be fucking kidding me?" I asked, "How the hell did that even get in here?"

I looked at my baton, eternally glad I had grabbed it. We took a step forward, and the roach fluttered its wings and leapt from the window. I was just glad it was on the other side of the window.

We proceeded through the next door, and at the end of the hall we could see a room with a fridge and cabinets, and the damned roach was heading straight for us. I raised my baton and prepared myself to kill it... but Jude got to it first.

He leapt into the air and brought both of his feet down on it with an almighty crunch and splat. He wheeled about and grabbed a second baton that was sitting atop a crate and wailed on the roach until nothing was left but slime and goo.

Nate and I stared at him in shock as he turned back to us.

"I. Hate. Cockroaches." He said simply, his eyes wide with disgust as he wiped the bottom of his shoe off.

This was very true, and a fact that I had always knew. I remember one time, a long time ago, when I had finally moved back in with my dad after my exile in Los Angeles. It was right after Jude and I got back together, and we went on our first actual date of our new relationship. We went to a restaurant, and the place was less than impressive cleanliness wise. Jude went into the bathroom, and upon seeing the several cockroaches crawling on the counter, had a major freak out that ended in him screaming at the restaurant's owners.

Anyway, I'm getting sidetracked.

We didn't even bother looking through the fridge, because it was wide open and we could see that it was empty. We proceeded through the next room, which had two giant reactors in it. One of them was sending giant arcs of electricity flying, and one of the arcs struck a radroach that was crawling around on the floor, and another arc flashed out and struck the wall, not even a foot from Jude's head. I grabbed him, and threw him behind a box, before Nate and I dove behind the same box.

"Did you have to throw me, Connor?" Jude asked with a wince.

"Sorry." I responded, kissing his cheek.

"God fuckin' dammit." Nate swore, "Now even the fucking VAULT is trying to kill us! JUST WHAT WE NEED!"

"Calm down Nate." Jude said, breathing heavily, "We just have to be more careful."

We all moved, slowly and carefully, around the edge of the room to get to the door on the other side of the room. We stepped through the door, and went up the stairs. Two radroaches set upon us, and Jude stomped at one. I swung at one with the baton just as it flew at me. I took a moment to thank whatever deity existed that I still possessed the batting skills from when I played baseball as a teenager. The baton impacted the middle of the roach with a wet and nasty crunch, sending it flying across the hallway. We passed through yet another door.

Eventually, we found ourselves entering an office with an active terminal sitting atop a desk. In the corner sat a small enclosure. I noticed two things. On the desk sat some more stimpaks, and a 10mm pistol with a box of ammo sitting next to it. Jude picked up the pistol and checked the magazine, finding that it's loaded. He emptied the box of ammo into the pocket of the jumpsuit. I picked up the three stimpaks, and handed one each to Jude and Nate, pocketing one for myself. I ventured over to the cage, and discovered the remains of the Vault's armory. Two more 10mm pistols sat on the shelf, with a few full boxes of ammo.

"Nate, got a pistol in here if you want it." I announced.

"Oh thank god. I don't like not having a weapon." He said, entering the cage and picking one of the pistols up, taking half the boxes of ammo and emptying them into his pocket just like Jude did. I did the same, picking up the pistol and pulling the slide back, chambering a round. He ventured over to the active terminal.

"I'm gonna get the door open." He explained as he kneeled in front of the computer and accessed it, "There are logs in here. Might tell us what happened to the Vault."

"What do they say?" Nate asked.

Two seconds later…

"Those motherfuckers…" Jude deadpanned, "They never intended to let us out."

"What?" I asked furiously.

"They started to run out of supplies." Jude continued reading, "They were supposed to get an all clear signal from Vault-Tec one hundred eighty days after the bombs fell. They never got it, and the Overseer refused to unseal the Vault because the radiation levels outside were still at lethal levels. There was a mutiny led by the vault's security staff, and the Overseer placed the vault on lockdown and confiscated all food, water, weapons and medicine. The logs stop after that."

"Jesus Christ…" I said softly and then I turned and faced the case on the wall.

I did a double take.

"Hello, what have we here?" I wondered aloud.

It was a gun of some kind. Didn't know exactly what kind, it was like nothing I'd ever seen before. I tried to open the case, and it wouldn't budge. I felt a spike of irritation, and I tried to break the lock with the butt of my pistol, but it didn't work. It remained locked.

"Dammit." I said.

"I checked the bedroom, found some more ammo in a locker," Jude said, coming up behind me, and we vaguely recognized the sound of the door opening and Nate venturing to peak out into the hallway, "What's wrong?"

"Case is locked up tight." I said, "I'd have to pick the lock, but I don't have any bobby pins or a screwdriver."

"We'll come back later for it." Jude said, "Right now though, I wanna get the hell outta this vault."

"Uh, guys? The hallway's full of roaches."

We turned to where Nate's voice had came from. He was standing next to the open door, his head peaking out into the hallway. We moved to join him, and Jude sighed.

"Great. I guess there isn't another way through?" He asked hopefully.

"Nope." Jude growled.

Unfortunately, his growl alerted the pestilence to our presence. I raised my gun and concentrated.

Suddenly, time seemed to slow down. I took a closer look at my targets, and noticed that numbers were floating around their body parts. Percentages. My initial shock wore off when I realized what was happening. It was V.A.T.S., the Vault Assisted Targeting System. It increased accuracy tenfold, and increased reaction time to superhuman levels, to the point where time seemed to slow itself to a crawl when activated.

"Well, this will definitely be useful..." I thought to myself.

I turned to my companions, and noticed that Jude's face looked blank but focused, so I assume he slipped into V.A.T.S too. I picked my shots and let loose, dropping three of the six roaches, while Jude dispatched the others. We moved down the hallway, stepping over the dead vermin as we went.

Eventually, we exited into the room that contained the door to the Vault. The giant cog shaped door was secured in place. Nate noticed a skeleton in a lab coat and moved to examine it as Jude and I examined the room. Nothing of any real use, except for a spare couple of jumpsuits, and a couple more stimpaks in a first aid kit attached to the wall.

"Hey guys?"

We turned back towards Nate, who was holding something up for us to see.

"These things really worth keeping?"

He was holding another freaking Pip-Boy.

"Yes." Jude and I chorused.

Nate examined it for a second, before securing it to his arm and turning it on. He wiped the dust off the screen and then looked down at the Vault Door activation station. He inserted the link chord from the Pip-Boy into the port, and after a second he pulled it out and punched the button.

Sirens sounded and grinding soon followed as the giant drill moved forward and drilled into the vault door. Once it was attached, it pulled the door backwards, and rolled the Vault door out of the way. A bright light filter in through the gap, and just beyond we could see the elevator to the surface. We all ran through the gap left by the absent door and charged down the rust stairs, which creaked as we did so. No sooner had we all stepped foot on the lift, did alarms start blaring, and the Vault computer started speaking again.

"Enjoy your return to the surface, and thank you for choosing Vault-Tec." It said.

"Yeah, fuck you too." Nate mumbled at the automated voice, causing Jude to snort.

We looked up and the hatch was opening, and we got our first view of the sky. The sky was clear, and the sun was bright, which cause us to cover our eyes.

Our eyes stayed covered until the lift finally came to a stop, and the cool autumn wind swept over us.

Almost in synchrony, we lowered our arms, and opened our eyes.

Simultaneously, we all gazed on the new world with a startled gasp.


	4. Sanctuary, the Minutemen, and the Deathclaw

"Holy shit." The three of us said as we gazed out upon the eerie sight below us.

Sanctuary Hills was a mess. Several of the houses had collapsed, and all of the trees were dead and singed. The rusted out hulks of automobiles sat abandoned and useless in the streets, never to drive again. Far beyond on the horizon the city of Boston rose from to stretch toward the sky. Many of the city's skyscrapers were still standing, and it was very quiet. Barely a sound besides the blowing of the wind and the sounds of far off gunfire.

"It's... strangely beautiful." Jude said, "I've never heard the world so quiet before."

I couldn't help but agree, albeit a tad reluctantly.

"Let's go." Nate said, heading toward the small trailer that sat next to the elevator.

He took a minute to search it, along with the other trailer, before coming back over to us. He was carrying a desk fan under his arm.

"Find anything?" I asked, an inquisitive eyebrow raised.

"More ammo, a stimpak, an old Nuka Cola bottle cap, and this fan." He responded.

"And why are you taking a desk fan?" Jude asked, amusement thick in his voice, "Are you hoarding junk now?"

"It's not junk, Jude. It has screws and gears in it." Nate said, "You can cobble together gun parts from them if you know how. Screws, gears, any kind of adhesive, some other things too. I'll check the safe in the house if it's still there, I had a list of these kinds of things."

Of course he had. How could I possibly forget? Nate's nickname in the army had been Jury, because given the right tools and scrap, he could jury rig just about anything. During the Siege and Loss of Kyoto during the war, with the Chinese practically busting through the front door, our command center's power went out and Nate had cobbled together a generator out of spare parts.

Kind of looked forward to finding out what kind of things he can do to a weapon.

We walked through the fence, stepping over the skeletons that had laid there since the day it all ended. These people were our neighbors, and we had gotten along with most of them fairly well (Except for one couple down the street who had belonged to the Westborough Baptist Church. Naturally, Jude and I had loathed them, and the feeling was highly mutual). I couldn't help but feel a pang of sadness as we stepped over them, proceeding down the dirt path over the wooden foot bridge, which creaked as we walked over it.

"Where to first?" Jude asked.

"Home." Nate said.

We walked onto the sidewalk and took a look around, and Nate's jaw dropped open when he directed his gaze toward his former home.

"No fucking way." He muttered, and stalked toward his house.

Jude and I shared a confused look before following after him. We sound found what had aroused Nate's curiosity.

"As I live and breathe... Mr. Jackson? Mr. Connor? Mr. Jude? Is that... really you?" A classy British voice asked hopefully.

I couldn't help but find myself repeating Nate's earlier sentiment.

"No fucking way." I muttered.

Floating in front of us, rusting but otherwise no worse for wear, was Codsworth.

"Codsworth... you... you're still here?" Nate stammered in shock, "So... other people could still be alive too..."

The last half was directed towards Jude and me.

"Well of COURSE I'm still here!" Codsworth exclaimed, sounding offended, "Did you really think a little radiation could deter the pride of General Atomics International? But you seem the worse for wear. Best not the wife see you in that state. Where is the misses by the way?"

Jude and I shared a look full of amusement. Even after 200 years, Codsworth hasn't changed at all.

Nate cringed at Codsworths inquiry to Nora's location. He stared off into space, and a lone tear fell from his eye to roll down his cheek.

"They... they killed her." Nate said, his voice cracking as he spoke.

"Sir... these things you're saying, these terrible things... I believe you need a distraction." Codsworth said, as if Nate hadn't just informed him of Nora's death, "Yes, a distraction to calm this dire mood. It's been ages since we had a proper family activity. Checkers? Or, perhaps charades? Shaun does so love that game, hahahaha. Is the lad uh, with you?"

Jude and I shared an incredulous look. This robot was definitely suffering from a couple of loose screws in its head. No pun intended.

Nate's demeanor changed in a fraction of a second. His sad, depressed face turned into a snarl.

"He's gone... god DAMMIT!" Nate shouted, "Somebody took him, somebody STOLE MY SON!"

Jude moved forward and put his hand on Nate's shoulder.

"Nate, that's not helping anything." Jude said soothingly.

"It's worse than I thought." Codsworth said, sounding concerned, "You're suffering from hunger induced paranoia. Not eating properly for two hundred years will do that I'm afraid."

You could practically hear Nate's jaw gracing the ground with its presence.

"I knew I was forgetting to mention something." I whispered to Jude

"T-Two hundred years? What? Are... are you..." Nate stammered, his eyes wide with shock and his brain rendered incapable of putting together a coherent thought.

"A bit over two hundred and ten actually, sir. Or give or take a little. Given the Earth's rotation and the minor dings to the old chronometer." Codsworth rattled off, "That means you're, uh, two centuries late for dinner, hahaha. Perhaps I could whip you up a snack? You must be famished."

Nate stared at the floating robot in astonishment.

"Codsworth, you're acting... a little weird. What's wrong?" Nate asked, sounding concerned.

Now, Jude and I had never seen a robot have a mental breakdown before. Nor did we even know it was possible for a robot to have one. We were about to find out that it was indeed possible.

"I... I... Oh sir, it's been just HORRIBLE!" Codsworth ranted, sounding distraught, "Two centuries with no one to talk to. No one to serve! I spent the first TEN YEARS trying to keep the floors waxed, but nothing gets nuclear fallout out of vinyl wood, NOTHING! And don't get me STARTED on the futility of dusting a collapsed house! And the car... THE CAR! HOW DO YOU POLISH RUST?"

Jude and I kept a hand near our weapons. The last thing either of us wanted was to have to deal with a frenzied Mr. Handy.

"Stay with me pal, focus." Nate said sternly.

Miraculously, Nate's command worked and Codsworth calmed down.

"I... I'm afraid I don't know anything, sir." Codsworth said sadly, "The bombs came, and you all left in such a hurry. I thought for sure that you and your family were *sniff* dead."

He reached his arm into a side compartment on his main body and withdrew a small yellow rectangle.

"I did find this holotape. I believe the mistress was going to present it to you... as a surprise." Codsworth said, sniffling, "But then... everything happened."

Nate took the holotape and put it in his pocket.

"Thanks Codsworth." Nate said.

"*Sniff* you're welcome." Codsworth said sadly before he returned to his normal upbeat self, "Now, enough feeling sorry for myself. There are things to be done."

"Wait here Codsworth." I directed, "We're gonna have a look around."

"I shall accompany you, sirs." Codsworth said, "My sensors indicate movement in some of the houses."

Without another word Jude and I set off in the direction of our old house. The front door was gone, and the furniture inside was in ruins. We walked into our old bedroom, and found that our old safe was still closed and sitting where it had been left, in our closet. It was a monstrosity of a thing. Jude stands at six feet tall, and this thing was almost as tall.

I was relieved to see that keypad still worked, but I couldn't remember the passcode.

"What's the code, Judicorn?" I asked.

"070500." He reminded me.

My birth date. How the hell did I forget it? I don't know.

I typed in the passcode, and it pops open. Inside are mine and Jude's most valuable possessions. Jude's .44 caliber revolver, my modified 10mm pistol, and Jude's old katana were the weapons that resided within. Our old photo albums sat, pristine, stacked along the bottom of the safe. Jude knelt and gently let his fingers run across the top cover of one of the books, before taking it and opening it.

The first page was the family photo taken at mine and Jude's wedding.

Jude and I stood in the middle, with Stef, Jesus, my mom and my dad on my left, and Lena, Jude's dad Donald, Callie, Brandon and Mariana on Jude's right. Of all of them, besides Jude and I obviously, the only one that had survived to see the nuclear war was Jesus, and of all of us only Jesus ever had children of his own. Stef and Lena both died within days of each other of natural causes. They were in there seventies. I lost my mom and dad in early 2068 to cancer and a brain aneurism respectively.

Brandon had died in a car accident long before then, in February of 2054. He'd hit a patch of black ice on the way home from a meeting at his job, and drove his car off the road into a pond. The whole family searched for him for days, before the police found the car and pulled it out of the pond, with Brandon still strapped into his seat.

Mariana was the only one of the siblings that had died a peaceful death. She lived just long enough to see us get discharged from the army. She died just six months before the bombs fell. She outlived all the others except for her twin, and she died of cardiac arrest in her sleep on April 13th, 2077. Her funeral was a large one, with over a hundred people in attendance. I had never seen Jesus cry harder than he did as they lowered the casket containing his beloved twin sister into the ground.

Donald died in 2042 from a heart attack. He'd been in failing health for a long time, and had more health problems than any one person should have ever had to deal with. Most of us were just glad that the poor man would finally see some peace.

Callie, well... nobody really knew what happened to Callie. She disappeared without a trace in October of 2058. Again, the whole of the remaining family galvanized into action to find her. No trace of her was ever found. Jude took the loss of his one remaining biological relative very hard. He started drinking, and one night he got so drunk he could barely stand and almost drove home. If it hadn't been for the bartender at the bar, Jude might have ended up following in his father's footsteps, and gotten somebody killed drunk driving. To this day, it is a subject that nobody is allowed to speak about.

Jude's eyes started to turn red from the effort of keeping back tears. I knelt beside him and rubbed his back, leaning my head on his shoulder.

"They're all gone, Connie." He whimpered as the first tear fell, "My forever family is gone."

My heart broke. In my beloved's voice I could hear the pain of a man who, for the second time in his life, had to deal with the reality of losing his entire family.

"I'm so sorry, Jude." I whispered, placing a soft kiss to the side of his head, "I miss them too."

Jude couldn't prevent the sob that followed.

"If we're ever down near Quincy, I want to visit Jesus's old house." Jude said, stammering his words, "If... he's still there, I want to bury him. He deserves that."

"Of course, baby." I agreed.

It was at that moment that we heard movement and I reacted on instinct. My hand gripped the grip of my 10mm, and I stood and whipped around to face the intruder, only to see that it was only Nate, with Codsworth floating behind him.

"Find anything useful?"

"No sign of Shaun." Nate said dejectedly, "Cracked a safe, found some old cash, some bottle caps, and this thing."

It was obviously a gun, but it was unlike anything I had seen before in that it looked like a hunk of junk. It was cobbled together from old bits of pipe, wood, and some screws.

"It's chambered for .32 rounds." He continued, "Codsworth says the locals call it a pipe pistol."

"Why are you keeping the bottle caps." Jude asked.

"Haha, apparently they use them as currency now." Nate said, highly amused by this fact.

"You're joking right?" I asked.

"Nope," Nate said, "Now come on. Codsworth said that there are still people alive in Concord. That's the first place we're gonna look."

"Alright."

"Good luck, sirs." Codsworth chirped, "I shall stay here and secure the home front. Good luck."

"Thanks buddy." Nate said as Codsworth floated away.

Jude and I attached our holsters, and Jude grabbed his katana and revolver, while I grabbed my 10mm, and then we followed Nate down the road toward the old wood bridge that crossed the river. The bridge had a huge hole in it, and we crossed it with caution, not sure how much weight it would take.

We approached the truck stop on the other side of the bridge, and Jude got distracted by a noise inside. He let out a shrill whistle, and the source of the noise revealed itself moments later.

It was a dog. A pure bred German Shepard. He bounded up to us, his tail wagging happily as he bounced around in front of us.

"Hey boy, what are you doing out here all by yourself?" I asked the dog as I knelt before it and rubbed the top of its head affectionately. He let out a small playful bark, and bounced in a circle.

"You wanna come with us, pal?" Nate asked.

The dog let out a happy bark, and ran in a circle around us for a minute before settling down.

"All right then, let's stick together." Jude said to him.

We set off down the street towards Concord with our new canine companion in tow, bouncing happily after us.

Almost as soon as we set foot in the town, we heard gunshots and laser weapons discharging. We bolted towards the shots, and onto the main strip in the town where we ducked behind an old rusted truck. At the end of the street sat the Museum of Freedom. A man stood on the balcony, firing a laser weapon down at a group of people who seemed intent on killing him. He was black, and seemed to be dressed in some kind of trench coat or similar.

He was also shouting for help.

We couldn't just let him die.

Nate tapped the dog on the head and pointed at the closest attacker to us.

"Sic him boy." Nate commanded.

The dog went from playful to menacing in the blink of an eye and took off towards his target. He was obviously well trained. He sprinted towards his target and pounced, his jaws locking around the man's throat, bringing the surprised man to the ground. With a single almighty pull, the dog ripped the man's throat out.

"NOW!"

With a mental note to search the bodies afterwards for anything useful, Jude leapt from behind the truck and drew his revolver in one hand and his sword in the other at the same time that Nate and I rose and drew ours. While Nate's 10mm was stock, my 10mm was heavily modified, with an extended ported barrel, a silencer, an advanced receiver and an extended quick eject magazine. The first bullet from my pistol caused the head of one of the raiders to explode in a shower of red blood and pink brain matter. Nate went into V.A.T.S, and wasn't missing a single shot. He quickly dispatched four of the raiders, while Jude charged one of them and stabbed him through the chest with the katana, and the Dog ravaging two others.

One came out of nowhere and attacked me, slashing at me with a knife. I scoffed at the foolishness of the man, attacking me with a combat knife when I had a pistol. I sneered as I put a bullet in his head.

All was quiet on the outside, but we could hear more shots being fired inside the museum.

"YOU THREE DOWN THERE! UP HERE ON THE BALCONY!"

We all looked up, to be met with the sight of a man in a duster waving frantically from the balcony of the museum. The Dog barked.

"GRAB THAT LASER MUSKET AND HEAD INSIDE!" He pleaded, "WE NEED HELP, WE'VE GOT SETTLERS TRAPPED IN HERE! THE RAIDERS ARE ALMOST THROUGH THE DOOR! PLEASE, HURRY!"

He sounded absolutely desperate, and I could see the clear look of terror on his face. We didn't need to be told twice. We couldn't just let these people die. Jude picked up the odd looking weapon and the fusion cells. On the side of the receiver was a crank. He turned it twice, and the weapon gave a whirring sound.

We charged through the door and they immediately started firing at us from a ledge above us. One bullet only missed my head by an inch. We charged across the room through a door on the right and through the exhibit. We encounter a single Raider in the second room, and Jude aimed the laser musket at him and fired. With an almighty bang, a huge red bolt flew from the barrel and collided with the raider, burning a hole, clear through his skull. Jude looked at the gun in astonishment and cranked it twice more.

"Hot damn. I like this thing." He muttered before we advance further into the museum.

In the main room, the floor had collapse, and in the basement, we could see a locked door and behind it sat a generator with a fusion core still in it. I ran carefully down the collapsed floor to the door, and I shot the lock to the door five times. It opened, and I ran inside, pulling the fusion core from its slot before joining Jude and Nate at the top of the staircase.

"Never know, maybe we can find a suit of power armor that still works." I said quickly as we charged forward up the stairs and through a door on the right into the war exhibit.

We were confronted by two more raiders, which were quickly gunned down by another dual assault from Jude and Nate. We exited the exhibit into a hallway and ran up the staircase to the top floor and the door to the mezzanine burst open and a raider charged through. Jude took care of him with a slash of his katana and the man hit the floor, his head rolling across the floor. We walked onto the mezzanine, and the first thing we saw were three angry looking men trying to bust down a shut door. Jude raised the .44 and launched a bullet into the back of one of their skulls, while Nate and I did the same to the other two with our 10mm.

The door flew open.

"YOU THREE! IN HERE, QUICKLY!" The man at the door shouted at us.

The dog pranced into the room ahead of us, and we were met at the door, which was immediately shut and locked behind us.

"Man I don't know who you are, but your timing is impeccable." The black man in the colonial duster said, "Preston Garvey, Commonwealth Minutemen."

"The Minutemen?" I asked.

"Protect the people at a minute's notice. Or at least, that was the idea, before it all fell apart." Preston said with sadness clear in his voice, "I joined up when I was seventeen under Colonel Hollis's group. I wanted to make a difference, and I did. Worked my way up and became an officer."

"What happened?" I asked.

"Quincy happened." Preston said.

"What happened in Quincy?" Jude asked.

"A group of mercenaries. They call themselves the Gunners." Preston said, his voice sounding as if he was holding back tears, "They were attacking Quincy. The Minutemen were called on to help defend the town. When we got there, the town was under siege. It started off well; we broke through, dispersed the Gunner lines. The civilians in the town welcomed us with open arms. The Gunners retreated, but it was only temporary. We knew they'd be back. When they came back, they came back with reinforcements. We called for help from other Minutemen, but they all just... turned their backs. On us and on Quincy."

Preston's voice broke and Nate, always the empathetic and compassionate soul, stepped forward and places a hand on Preston's shoulder.

"Go on." Nate urged gently.

Preston heaved a sigh, and continued.

"One of our own, an officer named Clint... he betrayed us. He was leading the Gunners." Preston continued, unable to stop a couple of tears from escaping, "When we refused to surrender, the Gunners charged. They shredded the defenses. They m-murdered everybody. Everybody who didn't escape and make a run for it. Colonel Hollis was killed. He stayed and fought to his last breath. Not even the k-kids made it out. Twenty of us made it out alive. That was a month ago. We've been wondering the Commonwealth, looking for a place to settle. It's been one solid disaster after another. We tried Lexington, but the place is overrun by Ghouls. We lost nine people there. We lost another three the day before yesterday, leaving only eight of us. Now, there are only six of us left. Me, Mama Murphy over there, Sturges here, and his granddad, and the Yuns. And I'm the only Minuteman that survived."

"I'm so sorry. That sounds rough." Nate said sincerely.

"Uh... thanks. It's nice to meet somebody out here who actually cares." Preston said with a microscopic smile, "You three must be new around here. I thought everybody knew about what happened in Quincy."

"We just crawled out of a vault." I revealed, "So yes, we're new."

"Wait seriously?" Preston asked in astonishment, "You're vault dwellers."

"Vault 111." Nate said, "It was a cryogenic facility. The three of us had been frozen since the war."

"Damn." Preston said in disbelief, "What did you say your names were again?"

"Nathan Jackson." Nate introduced.

"Connor Stevens." I introduced myself, shaking Preston's hand.

"Jude Stevens." Jude introduced.

The man standing at the terminal turned abruptly upon hearing our names. His eyes were wide with shock, and his hair was done up in a pompadour hairstyle.

"Name's Sturges. Sturges Foster." He introduced and shook our hands at the same time that another voice rasped from across the room.

We only had a second to recognize his last name, before a voice behind us croaked to life.

"Holy shit." A gravelly voice said, coming from our left, "That cannot be possible."

We turned and were met by a man who looked like a zombie. It took everything I had not to raise my pistol and fire, but in the end my control and common sense won out. This man was not a threat.

Nate turned to Preston.

"Not trying to be rude or anything, but... what is he?" Nate asked.

"He's a ghoul." Preston explained, "I mentioned them earlier. Ghouls are humans who've been exposed to a ton of radiation. They look like zombies, but they're still human."

"So, they're basically a human with a radiation induced skin ailment?" I surmised, "Could be worse I guess."

"Yeah, they could be feral." Preston said, "They're ghouls whose brains have rotted to mush. They ARE basically zombies. They try to kill anything that isn't a ghoul. We ran into a ton of them in Lexington. Lost a lot of good people to them, too."

"Do we know you?" Jude asked with his eyebrow rose at the stranger.

"Well, yes. I'd say you do." The ghoul said, with a very familiar smirk.

A smirk I'd seen a billion times before, but I was having trouble placing where I'd seen it before.

"Then who are you?" Jude asked.

"What you don't recognize me, Judicorn? I'm hurt, little brother."

Jude dropped the laser musket he was carrying and stumbled backwards until his back collided with the door. He stared at him with wide eyes, and almost immediately, the tears started leaking down his face. At the same time, Nate and I stared at the ghoul in shock. Besides the three of us, only one other person alive at the onset of the nuclear war knew Jude's childhood nickname.

But it couldn't be, could it?

"No, that can't be possible." Jude stammered, tears streaming down his face.

"I assure you, it is." The ghoul said gently, taking a step forward.

"Tell me something that only he would know." Jude demanded tearily.

"You grind your teeth when you sleep, and I used to throw a pillow at you to wake you up when you did it." The ghoul said gently, "When you had a nightmare about one of your old foster homes, you'd crawl in bed with me until I could calm you down. It's me, Jude."

Only one other person besides me knew that, and somehow, this ghoul was him.

Jude lunged forward with a strangled cry, and in a matter of seconds had crossed the room and collided with the ghoul, wrapping his arms around him in an embrace which the ghoul quickly returned. I stepped forward, not even bothering to contain the tears as the ghoul looked at over Jude's shoulder.

"It's good to see you kept your promise." He said, "You kept him safe."

I nodded, stepping closer.

"It's good to see you again, Connor. You too Nate."

The tears fell even harder, and I joined the embrace.

"It's good to see you too... Jesus."

Five minutes later, we were still hugging.

I couldn't believe it. Jesus was alive. He had once again proven that he was far too fucking stubborn to die.

"Um, guys." Sturges interjected, "We are kind of in danger here. We can have the catch-up session later."

Damn you logic and reason. It kind of surprised me that any direct descendant of Jesus could possess these two traits because… well, it's Jesus.

"He's right." Jesus said, pulling back, "You said you had an idea, Sturges?"

"Just the one, great granddad." Sturges said before turning to Jude, Nate and I, "There's a crashed pre-war Vertibird up on the roof. You probably saw it on your way in."

"Yeah, but it's ruined." Jude reminded us, "So we can't exactly use it to mow all the raiders down, can we?"

"Not thinking about doing that, Uncle Jude." Sturges said, "I was thinking more about what was on the Vertibird when it crashed."

"Which is?" Nate asked.

"Well, one of the passengers left behind a seriously sweet goodie," Sturges said with a devious smirk, "We're talking a full suite of cherry T-45 power armor. Military issue."

As soon as I heard the word "T-45", I started laughing. The look on the raider's faces was going to be absolutely priceless.

"Hahahahahaaa." I cackled, "Oh, that's delicious. I like it."

"Yeah, I thought you might." Sturges agreed, "Protection, with an added bonus. You get the suit, and you can rip the old minigun right off the Vertibird. Do that and you give the Raiders an express ticket back to hell where they belong. You dig."

"Oh yeah, we definitely dig." I said.

"Yeah, but there is one hitch." Sturges said.

"And that is?"

"Well… the suits out of juice, it's probably been dry for over a hundred years." He said irritably, "It can be powered up again."

"For that you'll need and old F.C." Preston interjected, "A standardized fusion core. It's a high grade, long term nuclear battery…"

"Yeah, we know what it is. We've all used power armor before." Jude interjected politely.

"Oh, well good. Anyway, we know right where to find one, there's one in the basement plugged into the old generator…" Preston continued.

"But we can't get to the damned thing." Sturges finished irritably, "It's locked behind an old security gate. It's password protected by a terminal. If you can pick the lock, you can take it, and plug it right in."

Nate shared a look with Jude and me before he reached into the pocket of his jumpsuit, and withdrew a yellow and black cylinder.

"Gentleman, I think we're in business." He said with a frightening grin.

Simultaneously, devious smirks stretched across mine, Nate's, Jude's, Jesus's and Sturges's faces as we stared at the fusion core.

"These fuckers aren't going to know what hit them." Jesus said happily.

"Maybe our luck's finally turned around." Preston said, "Once you jack the core into the power armor and grab that minigun, these raiders will realize they've fucked with the wrong people for the last time. Good luck."

"Who's going to do this?" Nate asked, turning to Jude and me, "You two are better in power armor than I am."

"I'll do it." I volunteered, "Jude can help me power up the armor and make sure it's working properly, and then you two, Preston, Sturges, and Jesus can take shots at them from the balcony."

"Sounds like a plan." Preston agreed.

Jude and I left the room through the other door to the office, pausing in our step as we heard the old lady greet our new dog as "Dogmeat". We shared a quick look and a shrug and continued on across the mezzanine to the door to the roof. We stepped outside, and I noticed that it had started raining, and the sky had turned a deep grey color.

As soon as we stepped through the door to the roof, a grin stretched across my face. Jude looked unsure.

It was a suit of power armor, all right. It's once shiny metallic body now dulled to a light shade of red from rust caused by 200 years of exposure to the elements without maintenance.

"Okaaaaay." Jude said nervously, "This thing is… a piece of crap."

I had to admit it had seen its better days. While most of the armor seemed sturdy enough, one arm and one leg were riddled with bullet holes, and the rest of the pieces were heavily dented. In the back of my head, I wondered what the hell I was thinking hopping into this thing. What if it shut down and locked me inside or something?

"You sure you don't want me to do this?" Jude offered.

"No. I'm doing it. It's too dangerous." I objected.

"Dammit, Connor. I fought through a war beside you. I'm capable of doing this." Jude said irritably.

"Yeah, but keeping you as safe as possible is my main priority." I argued back, "It always has been, ever since the day I bowled you over at Anchor Beach, and it always will be. Besides, Nate is a shit sniper. You're not. I'm better with heavy weapons, like that minigun. You're better with smaller arms. It's not me calling you incapable. I know you're not incapable. You've saved my life more times than I can count. It's just me being tactical."

"Sorry." He said sheepishly.

"It's fine." I said, and wrapped him in a hug, "I have never doubted you. Even when we broke up that time, I had faith in you. Never doubt that."

"I won't. I love you."

"I love you too."

I released him from the hug and turned to the power armor. I shoved the fusion core into the port on its back. The whole suit hissed and gave a whirring sound and I turned the hatch on the back, causing the armor to open up. The inside was dusty and covered in cobwebs which I quickly disposed of.

"Maybe this isn't such a good idea." Jude said nervously.

"It'll be fine." I assured him, "My power armor during the Battle of Anchorage was worse off, and it held up."

"Yeah, but at Anchorage you were wearing a suit of advanced T60e power armor." Jude argued, eyeing the rusted hulk wearily, "This is rusted, dented, bullet ridden, base model T45a power armor. You might as well be wearing wet cardboard."

I snorted and turned to Jude. I pulled him back towards me, wrapping my husband in another fierce hug. I was briefly transported back in time to a moment right before the liberation of Anchorage during the war, when Jude and I were in nearly the exact same position.

"Be careful." He said softly.

I kissed him softly on the lips.

"I will." I promised, "I always am."

I turned to the power armor, and pulled myself up into it. It closed around me, and I took stock of the systems.

"Okay, structural integrity check." I ran through aloud, "Armor right arm and left leg at 27% and 25%. Torso at 50%, left arm at 57%, right leg at 68%, helmet at full. Fusion core at 95%. VATs efficiency increased. All gauges functional."

"Alright, you should be good to go." Jude said, "I love you."

"I love you too baby." I said, before taking a deep breath and turning back towards the Vertibird.

I took a clunking step forward, and thanked god that it moved. I walked up to the Vertibird and gripped the minigun. With one swift pull, I ripped it free and stepped through the downed helicopter.

On the roof across from me, was one raider. He saw my movement, and turned and shouted.

"Boss, we got movement up here!" He shouted.

The loud retort of a sniper rifle thundered across Concord and the raider's head dissolved violently into a cloud of mushy red.

I walked up to the ledge and looked at the raiders down in the streets. There was one raider standing directly below me, staring up with wide eyes filled with terror.

I jumped down from the roof, and the raider didn't have time to move. I landed on him, the heavy bulk of my armor crushing his chest and killing him instantly. From above me I heard Jesus, Sturges and Preston opening fire and screaming.

"PAYBACK TIME, MOTHERFUCKERS!"

The minigun came to life with a vibrating whirl and bullets rained as I marched down the main road, cutting down every raider in my path.

"HOW THE FUCK DO WE KILL HIM IN THAT?" One of them shouted, shooting at me with a sawn off shotgun.

"You don't." I shouted back, filling his chest with holes.

I felt bullets hitting my armor from above, and I cocked my head to see four of them firing from the windows of what appeared to be an old diner. I aimed the minigun upwards and let it rip. Just like that, they were dead.

"This is too easy."

No sooner did I say it than the sewer grate in the street in front of me went flying into the air with a loud boom, startling me.

"The fuck?" I asked myself.

My heart dropped into my stomach as a huge, scaly, reptilian hand with claws that must have measured over a foot long reached out from the depths. The creature it belonged to crawled out of the sewer and turned to stare at me.

It was twice my height, with black reptilian scales. It appeared to be a giant lizard of some kind, maybe a mutated chameleon. It had razor sharp teeth, horns protruding from each side of its head, claws the sizes of small swords, and long tale with spikes down its back. It turned its gaze on me, and I stared into what looked like the evil yellow eyed face of the devil itself.

"Oh shit." I whimpered.

It stared at me, and I was petrified, almost too terrified to breath.

"SHIT IT'SA DEATHCLAW, CONNOR RUN! NOW!" Jesus screamed frantically from the balcony.

So the real life incarnation of Satan is called a Deathclaw. What a fitting name.

I didn't have to be told twice. Jesus's screaming jolted me back to my faculties, and I turned and ran straight into a building, hoping to get to higher ground to have a good shot at it. It tried to follow me into the building, but its considerable bulk prevented that by happy circumstance.

I stood on the balcony and aimed the minigun at the Deathclaw and opened fire. All it seemed to do was piss it off. I kept firing, and firing and firing.

"DIE YOU SLIMY MOTHERFUCKER! DIE!" I screamed at it.

My onslaught was joined by a red bolt of energy lancing into the back of the creature along with the booming retort of a sniper rifle. I turned my head to see that Nate, Jesus, and Preston had opened fire from the safety of the balcony and that Jude was on the roof with a sniper rifle. I jumped down from the balcony, and opened fire directly into its chest at point blank range. It roared in agony and swung its claw at me. It caught me and sent me flying backwards onto my back. It towered over me and raised its claw for a killing blow when its head burst into a shower of blood, slime and brains. I looked up to the balcony to see Jude aiming at its body with a sniper rifle of his own.

I sighed from relief and laid my head back. I took the helmet off and sat it to the side before taking a few calming breaths and just lay there on my back. I heard the front door of the museum slam open with a loud bang and Jude raced from the building followed closely behind by Dogmeat. He ran to me and lunged, throwing himself on top of my power armor incased body, kissing me deeply. Dogmeat climbed up and proceeded to lick the top of my sweaty head.

"Okay, you were right." I admitted hoarsely, "This power armor was shit."

Jude slapped me on the back of the head.

"If you hadn't been wearing it, you'd be fucking dead, so stop complaining!" He snapped, before reconnecting our lips in a desperate dance of tongue, teeth and lips.

After a couple more minutes of that, I got back to my feet and we marched back toward the museum.

"I'm keeping this armor." I decided, "If I take it back to Sanctuary with us, I can try to repair it. If I can't, Nate definitely could. Some steel, some aluminum, bit of welding and it'd be as good as new."

"Maybe. We'll have to see."

Preston met me at the door.

"That was… some display." He praised with awe, "Glad you're on our side."

"Feeling's mutual, Preston." Nate interjected.


	5. Rescuing Nick Valentine

We escorted Preston and the settlers back to Sanctuary. Jude and I took care to stay as far away from Mama Murphy as possible. She creeped both of us out, but she had also managed to point us in the direction of a settlement called Diamond City, which was supposed to be the largest settlement in the Commonwealth.

We decided that we needed to get some experience with the wasteland. So when a trader caravan came passing through carrying word from the farm of Tenpine's Bluff that the settlers there were asking for assistance from the Minutemen, we obliged Preston's request to go and see what they needed. It was a couple hour hike to get there, and when we got there one of the settlers stuck his gun in Nate's face until we told him we were with the Minutemen. He told us that a group of Raiders that were operating out of the old Corvega plant down in Lexington was constantly harassing them. Jude, Nate and I returned to Sanctuary two days later with a ton of loot, some more caps, and Tenpine's Bluff's support for the Minutemen. The look on Nate's face when Preston appointed him General of the Minutemen was an interesting combination of pride and panic.

After that, we stayed in Sanctuary for a few days to help everybody get settled. We helped Sturges set up defenses, and Nate cobbled together a rudimentary water purifier in the river and a generator to power it. We helped plant some seeds in a makeshift garden, and we went around to all the various houses and assigned beds to people. Nate and I spent a good chunk of the time making repairs to the power armor, until it was in relatively good condition. Nate had added a layer of titanium plating over all of the pieces, which made it much more durable. When we finally set out across the Commonwealth, we were more prepared than we could have hoped for. I decided to leave the power armor.

The trip took three days, and it was not an easy trip. We were attacked by Mole Rats when we were passing the old Red Rocket Truck Stop, and we were attacked by feral ghouls while going through Lexington. By the time we reached the outskirts of downtown Boston, I was hauling a rather large amount of spare guns and pieces of makeshift armor, most of which were made from leather and some of which were made from metal. We were pulling a very small trailer behind us that we had borrowed when we came across the settlement called Greygarden. It was barely big enough to hold everything, but it worked.

Almost as soon as we entered the city, we saw signs directing us to Diamond City. We followed the signs until we arrived at the front entrance. My stomach dropped.

"T-This is Fenway Park." I said distressed, "What have they done to it?"

Jude and Nate rolled their eyes.

"Come on, Connor." Jude said as we approached the gate to find an angry brunette woman in a red leather trench coat and a reporter's hat arguing with somebody through the speaker.

"…Stop fooling around, Danny. I'm standing out here in the open for crying out loud!" She hissed.

"I-I got orders not to let you in, Ms. Piper." The voice, belonging to somebody named Danny, said apologetically, "I'm sorry. I'm just doing my job."

Piper got angrier.

"OH, you're just doing your job?" She sneered sarcastically, "Protecting Diamond City means keeping me out, is that it? Oh look it's the scary reporter, BOO!"

"I'm sorry." Danny said again, "But… Mayor McDonough is really steamed, Piper. Saying that article you wrote was all lies. The whole city's in a tizzy."

"ARGH! You open this gate RIGHT NOW, Danny Sullivan!" Piper shouted, waving her hands around in her fury, "I LIVE HERE! You can't just lock me out!"

When the gate did not budge she huffed in irritation and then noticed us standing there watching there.

"Hey, you three?" She called to us quietly as she waved us over, "You want into Diamond City, right?"

We all nodded.

"Okay then, play along." She said before turning back to the speaker, "What's that? You said you're traders up from Quincy? You have enough supplies to keep the general store stocked for a whole month? Huh. You hear that Danny? You gonna open the gate and let us in or are you going to be the one talking to crazy Myrna about losing out on all the supply?"

"Jeez, alright! Alright!" Danny said with an exasperated sigh, "No need to make it personal, Piper. Give me a minute!"

"Better head inside quick before old Danny catches onto the bluff." Piper said with a satisfied smirk as the gate finally started to open.

"Sounds good, let's go." Nate said.

"Another great day in Diamond City." She sighed sarcastically.

"Wow, this chick is clever." I thought to myself, and I could tell that Jude and Nate shared my thoughts judging by the impressed looks on their faces. We followed her through the gate and the first thing we heard was a voice shouting at us.

"PIPER!" An angry male voice shouted, "Who the hell let you back inside? I told Sullivan to keep that gate SHUT! You devious, rabble rousing slanderer! The level of dishonesty in that paper of yours! I'll have that printer scrapped for parts!"

"Oh, is that a statement, Mr. McDonough?" Piper sneered back, " _Tyrant mayor shuts down the press_! Let's ask the newcomers, do you support the news? Because the mayor's threatened to throw free speech in the dumpster!"

"Always believed in freedom of the press." Nate agreed, and we nodded to his sentiment.

"Oh, I didn't mean to drag you into this argument good sirs." McDonough said, pasting on the fakest politician's smile I'd ever seen, "No… no, no. You look like Diamond City material. Welcome to the great green jewel of the Commonwealth. Safe, happy, a fine place to come, spend your money, settle down. Don't let this muckraker here tell you otherwise."

"This hasn't been the friendliest welcome."

"See, McDonough. Not everybody's charmed by that shark smile of yours." Piper sneered.

"*Throat clears* Was there anything in particular you came to our city for?" McDonough asked.

"I'm looking for my son, Shaun." Nate said, "He's less than a year old."

"Wait, your son's missing?" Piper asked, "You hear that, McDonough? Another missing person. And what's Diamond City security going to do to help them find the kid?"

"Don't listen to her." McDonough interrupted, "While I'm afraid that our security cannot follow every case that comes through, I'm confident that you can find help here. Diamond City has every conceivable service known to man. One of our great citizens can surely find the time to help you."

"Well, sure… and the mayor of a great city must know everyone." Nate said charmingly, "Who can help me?"

There's the charismatic man that Jude and I met so long ago.

"Well, there's one private citizen." McDonough explained, "Nick Valentine. A… detective of sorts, who specializes in tracking people down, usually for debts or whatnot. Now… I have to get going. I'm sorry Diamond City Security doesn't have time to help, but I'm sure Mister Valentine charges a reasonable fee."

Jude and I shared a look at the mention of the name Nick Valentine. The name sounded familiar, but I couldn't place it, and apparently neither could Jude.

"This is ridiculous! An infant goes missing and you can't spare one officer to help? I want the truth, McDonough." Piper spat scathingly, "What's the real reason why security isn't allowed to investigate these disappearances? What's the real reason why security always shrivels away when talk of a missing person comes up?"

"I've had enough of this Piper!" McDonough snapped, "From now on you can consider you and that little sister of yours on notice!"

"Yeah, keep talking McDonough, that's all your good for!" Piper spat as the Mayor turned and walked away with a huff.

"Ugh. Of all the things to stay the same through an apocalypse," Jude seethed, "It had to be fucking politicians."

"I'm impressed." Piper said turning back to us, "Not everyone can claw information out of McDonough's tight fisted hands. Hmm. Why don't you stop by my office in a minute? I think I just found my next story."

With little preamble, we followed her to her office.

"So… how are you guys holding up?" She asked as we entered her house… if you could call the cobbled together shack a house."

"Well, my favorite ballpark has been turned into a shanty town… so, today's been great." I snarked sarcastically.

"Interesting that you should say that, seeing as you're all from a Vault." Piper said, "Yeah, the blue jumpsuits, the Pip-Boys and the general fish out of water look? Dead giveaways. So here is the deal… I want an interview. Your life story in print."

"Here's your headline… _Local man says no._ " Nate chirped cheekily.

"Gonna be like that, huh? Smart ass." Piper teased back.

"We'll give you the interview later, Miss…?" I said.

"Piper. Piper Wright." She said, reaching out and accepting my handshake.

"… Piper. But right now we're kind of in a hurry." I said, "Like we said outside, we need to find Nate's son, and this detective, uh… Valentine, was it? He's probably the only lead we have."

"Well, you're in good hands then. If anybody can help you find him, it'll be Nicky." Piper said, "Tell you what, if you need an extra gun, I could come with you? Watch your guys' back out there."

"We can't pay you much…" Jude started to say.

"Don't worry about it. Just remember that you owe me an interview later." Piper said, "Besides I'd feel terrible if I let you all wander off on your own and then something bad happen to you."

"Okay, it's a deal." We all chirped in unison.

The four of us left Piper's office and headed for the detective agency, which was in a small alley and marked by a neon sign. We went inside, and Mr. Valentine's assistant, Ellie, met us at the door. We stood to the side and allowed Nate to converse with her for a minute. He returned to us and sighed.

"Nick's missing." He said.

"Oh great." Piper sighed, "What's he gotten himself into now?"

"Went searching for a missing girl who was captured by some guy named Skinny Malone." Nate said, "Sounds like some wannabe gangster. His base is in an old Vault built inside Park Street Station. That's where we're headed."

"Oh shit, that's in Boston Commons." Piper said, "Dangerous place. You're gonna need a lot more ammo before we head there."

We proceeded to the market, where we visited Arturo's weapon stand on Piper's advice, avoiding the general store ran by Myrna, who according to Piper was a "prejudiced vulture". Naturally, Jude gave into his ancient urge to disturb bigots and ventured over. I wandered over just in time to catch the end of the conversation.

"…Are you human, because I will NOT serve a synth." Myrna spouted.

"No, I'm Jangles the fucking moon monkey!" Jude returned sarcastically.

"That's just what a synth would say!" Myrna squawked, "We don't serve your kind here!"

"Jude what are you doing?" I asked exasperatedly.

"Bigot bashing." He simpered.

I rolled my eyes and pulled him away from the stall.

"Sorry about him." I said to Myrna, "He's not a synth, he's just a dork."

Arturo paid us handsomely for all of our spare weapons and armor pieces. By the end of our transaction, we had two hundred caps per person, which we used to purchase stimpaks and more ammo for our guns. We considered keeping some of the leather armor for us to use, but we didn't think bullets would be stopped by what were basically leather hockey pads.

"Okay, so head east when we leave the city…" Nate muttered to himself as he looked at the map on his Pip-Boy.

We left Diamond City, following Nate's lead and sticking close to the buildings. After a half an hour, we reached Boston Commons.

It was very quiet in Boston Commons. Piper led us the long way around, and when Jude asked her why, she pointed to a swan boat sitting in a small pond.

"We don't wanna wake up Swan." She said.

"What the hell is Swan?" I asked.

"Super Mutant Behemoth." She said.

"A what?" Nate asked.

"Imagine the Hulk but three times as big." She said simply.

Well, that explains it. We came to the entrance of the station, and slipped through the door quietly.

We were almost immediately accosted by gunfire. Numerous assailants were firing at us, all armed with submachine guns and 10mm pistols.

"TRIGGERMEN!"

We made quick work of them, pushing further into the station. Jude stopped momentarily to grab the old fedora off the head of one of the triggerman he'd downed and plopped it onto his head. We fought our way through the litany of triggermen on the platforms and tracks of the station, until we finally came to stand in front of the vault door. The giant rusting grey cog with a big yellow 114 painted in the middle stood ominously. Jude walked up to the terminal and plugged his Pip-Boy into it, and seconds later, it screeched open.

"Who opened the damned door?" A voice from within asked, and a triggerman rounded the corner and was quickly shot in the middle of the face by Nate, which alerted his friend who was immediately killed by Jude. We proceeded through the Vault, killing anybody we came across until we came to the main atrium.

"How you doing in there, Valentine?" A sneering voice asked, "Feeling hungry? Want a snack?"

"Keep talking, meathead." A deep voice responded, "It'll give Skinny Malone more time to think about how he's gonna bump you off."

"Don't give me that crap Valentine." The sneering one continued, "You know nothing, and you got nothing."

"Really?" Valentine snarked, "I saw him writing your name down in that black book of his. _Lousy cheating card shark_ , I think were his exact words. Then he struck the name across three times."

Jude didn't give the triggerman time to respond, taking aim and letting the shot fly to paint the wall in front of him with brains, blood and skull fragments.

"What the hell?" I heard Valentine mumble as we passed in front of the window to the Overseer's office, "Hey you! I don't know who any of you are, but we got three minutes before they realize muscles for-brains ain't coming back! Get this door open!"

Nate headed over to the terminal, and three seconds later, he stepped back away from it.

"There's no way in hell I'm going to be able to hack this." He said to me.

"Here." Jude said, handing him a holotape.

"What's that?" I asked.

"Terminal password." Jude said.

"And where the hell did you get this?" I asked.

"It was in the dead guy's pocket." Jude said simply.

"Of course it was."

The door opened and we all stepped inside.

Nick Valentine stood leaned against the Overseer's desk, and the first thing any of us noticed was that he definitely wasn't human. His eyes glowed a bright yellow, and the skin on his face was rubber and ragged and large pieces of the side of his face were missing, revealing metal, wire, servos and sprockets. He was dressed in a battered grey fedora and ragged trench coat, under which he wore a pair of matching pants and a white collared shirt with a loose blue tie hanging from his neck.

"Ah, my knights in shining armor." He drawled, "But the question is, why do they come all this way, risking life and limb, for an old private eye?"

"I'm… tracking a murderer." Nate said, barely maintaining control over his voice, "The bastard who shot my wife. Took my son. I don't even have a clue who he is or where he's gone."

"So, you need a little angel of vengeance, eh?" Valentine surmised, "Well, I don't usually go after blood money, but I suppose I can make an exception. I've been cooped up in here for weeks. Turns out the runaway daughter I was sent to find wasn't kidnapped. She's Skinny Malone's new flame, and she's got a mean streak. Anyway, you got troubles and I'm glad to help, but now ain't the time. Lets blow this joint, and then we'll talk, Mr. …?"

"Nate. Nate Jackson, and this is…"

"Huh, well I'll be damned." Valentine exclaimed as he stepped forward, "Jude and Connor Stevens. Never expected to see you two again."

"You've met us?" I asked in shock.

"Yeah, it was before the war." Valentine said as he led us from the office, "I was maybe twenty five years old, just starting out as a detective. I believe it was, uh… October 13th, 2058. You hired me to try to find your sister Callie. Never found a trace of her."

The memory flooded back immediately. A tall, suave brown haired man filled with sympathy, standing on our porch apologizing for lack of results while Jude cried into my shoulder.

"Wait, you're THAT Nick Valentine?" Jude exclaimed, "What the hell happened to you?"

"I had my brain scanned by some folks at CIT before the war." Nick explained, "The Institute uploaded my personality and memories into an old synth and then they threw my out with the rest of the trash."

"That sucks." I surmised.

"Doesn't it just?" Nick agreed as we went down the stairs.

"Somebody's coming." Jude said, and we all ducked behind a wall.

"So how do you want to do this?" Nick asked, "Loud and messy, or…?"

Nate responded by tossing a grenade across the room. It detonated and three screams resulted.

"…Or we could just do that." I finished.

We took off running through the Vault with our guns blazing, only pausing in our stride to allow Nick to unlock a few tricky doors and for us to loot the people we'd killed. He opened a door to reveal another staircase.

"More stairs!?" Valentine growled indignantly, "Who built this damned Vault, a fitness instructor?"

Jude and I snorted.

More fighting ensued, until we came to another locked door.

"I hear fat footsteps coming from the other side." Nick said as he picked the lock, "It's Skinny alright. Once we step through this door, get ready for anything."

We stepped through the door, and we were met with the sight of an angry heavyset man wearing a tuxedo, and holding a Thompson submachine gun. Next to him stood a woman in a dress who was holding a baseball bat and glaring at us evilly. Behind them stood two more triggermen."

"Nicky! What are you doing?" Malone asked angrily, "You come into my house? Shoot up my guys. You have any idea how much this is going to set me back?"

"I don't give a fuck." I whispered to Jude, who snorted softly.

"I wouldn't be here if it weren't for your two timing dame, Skinny." Nick snarked, "You oughta tell her to write home more often."

"Aww. Poor little Valentine, ashamed you got beat up by a girl?" Darla sneered, "I'll just run back home to daddy, shall I?"

"You shoulda left it alone, Nicky." Malone growled, "This ain't the old neighborhood. In this Vault, I'm king of the castle! You hear me? I ain't letting some private dick shut us down now that I've finally got a good thing going."

"I told you, WE SHOULD HAVE JUST KILLED HIM!" Darla shouted, "But then you had to get all sentimental… all that stupid shit about the old times."

"Darla! I'm handling this!" Malone interrupted, "Skinny Malone's always got things under control."

"Oh yeah?" Darla questioned, "Then what're these guys doing here, huh? Valentine must've brought them here to rub us all out."

"Darla, listen to me." I said softly, trying to avoid a confrontation, "You have a home to go back to. You don't wanna throw your life away with these thugs. Do you?"

She was silent for a minute before her glare broke.

"I… I… You're right!" She choked out, "What am I doing? I've gotten all mixed up."

"Wait, what? Where are you going?" Malone asked.

"Home, Skinny." Darla said, "Where I should have been all this time. This is goodbye for us."

She turned and ran through the vault door without sparing any of us another glance.

"Oh, come on Nicky!" Malone said, turning back to us, "You cost me my men, now you and your friend cost me my girl?"

"My friend here just did you a favor Skinny." Nick snarked, "You always did have bad taste in women. Now that she's not around to feed that temper of yours maybe you'll see sense and let us walk. You still owe me for two weeks in the whole."

"Smug over confidant ass." Malone insulted, "All right! You get to the count of ten, if I still see your faces after that, I'm gunning you all down!"

"We better get out of here. Fast." Nick whispered to us.

None of us bothered to argue any further, so we ran.

"There's a ladder that leads to the surface just through here." He said, and we clamored up the ladder through a manhole and back into the open air.

"That was too close." Piper quipped.

"I don't know. Seemed fun to me." Jude joked, "We didn't get shot."

"Ah, look at that Commonwealth sky." Nick said, "Never thought something so naturally ominous could end up looking so inviting. Thanks for getting me out. How did you know where to find me, anyway? Not many people know where I went."

"Your secretary, Ellie." I said, "She told us."

"She did? I should give her a raise." Nick said lightly, "Now you mentioned something about your son, Shaun, and how he went missing?"

Nate nodded.

"I want you all to come to my office in Diamond City." Nick said, "Give me all the details. Besides, I think you've all earned a chance to sit down and clear your heads."

"Sounds like a plan." Nate agreed.

Nick nodded, and our quintet once again head for Diamond City.


	6. Hunting Kellogg

Connor's POV:

It took us a couple of hours, but we finally arrived back at Diamond City. Piper took Dogmeat to her place to rest for a while, while we continued on to the agency. Ellie was incredibly relieved to see Nick returned safe and sound, and paid us generously for it despite our protests. She also mentioned that they had other open cases that we could help them with if we had the time. I shared a look with Jude and filed that away for later.

"All right, let's get down to business." Nick said to Nate as he sat at his desk, "Take a seat, and make yourself comfortable."

Nate sat down in the lone chair in front of the desk.

"When you're trying to find somebody who's gone missing, the devil is in the details." Nick continued, "Tell me everything you can, no matter how… painful it might be."

Nate gathered himself and began.

"My wife was… murdered," He said, "She was trying to stop them from taking our son, Shaun, and they… they just…"

"It's okay." Ellie interjected gently, "You don't need to say anything more."

"So, we're talking about a group of cold hearted killers," Nick surmised, "But they waited until something went wrong to resort to violence. What else can you tell me?"

"We were all in a Vault when it happened." Nate said, "Vault 111. It was some kind of cryo facility."

"You were on ice, huh?" Nick said, "More importantly, you were underground. Sealed up. That is a lot of obstacles to get through just to take one person. Anything else you remember?"

"There was a man and a woman." Nate answered, "They didn't say much, but I remember they called me _the backup_."

"So, we're talking a small team." Nick guessed, "Professionals. The kind that know to keep their lips tight when their on the job. Not sure what _the backup_ means, though… What else."

"I don't know." Nate said, "Shaun is less than a year old. Why would somebody want to take him?"

"Good question." Nick agreed, "And why your family in particular? And why an infant? Somebody would be taking on all of his care, and a baby needs a lot of it."

"Yeah. More than usual." I interject, "Shaun was a premature baby. He needed special care."

"Huh. Well that confirms it as far as I'm concerned," Nick finally said, "This isn't a random kidnapping. Whoever took your kid had an agenda."

"Who could it have been?" Jude asked.

"Well, there are a lot of groups in the Commonwealth that take people." Nick explained, "Raiders, Super Mutants, the Gunners, and of course, there's the _Institute_."

"So you think this Institute is responsible?" I asked, noticing the strange way he said the word.

"Well, they're the boogeyman of the Commonwealth." Nick said, "Something goes wrong, everyone blames them, and it's easy to see why. Those early model Synths of theirs strip who towns for parts, killing everything in their way. Then you got the newer models that are good as human, that infiltrate cities and pull strings from the shadows."

"So they're basically the post apocalyptic Illuminati." I surmised.

"Yeah, and worst of all, no one knows why they do it, what their plan is, or where they are." Nick continued, "Not even me, and I'm a Synth myself… a discarded prototype, anyway."

"You're a prototype?" I asked.

"As far as I know." Nick responded, "Never seen any other Synth like myself. There are the older ones, that are dumb as rocks and all metal, and then there are the newer ones that are almost human. I'm somewhere in between."

"And, you don't know anything about them? Really?" Nate questioned skeptically.

"Some kind of security setting strips or blocks out those memories." Nick explained, "And it's not just me. Any Synth that gets trashed, left behind, or escapes the Institute has the same problem. It's probably some kid of failsafe."

"Either way, we need to find Shaun." Nate said.

"You're right." Nick agreed, "This speculation is getting us off track. Let's focus on what you saw. What did these kidnappers look like?"

"One of them came right up to me." Nate described, "Bald head, scar across his left eye."

Nick and Ellie's heads shot up.

"Wait. It couldn't be…" Nick said, "You didn't hear the name _Kellogg_ at all, did you?

"Oh, yeah…" Nate sneered sarcastically, "I heard their names, their home addresses and where their diary keys are hidden!"

"Nathan, that's enough." Jude interjected.

"Either way it's too big to be a coincidence." Nick continued, "Ellie, what notes do we have about the Kellogg case?"

"The description matches." She read from a file, "Bald head. Scar. Reputation for dangerous mercenary work, but no one knows who his employer is."

"And he bought a house here in town, right?" Nick asked, "And he had a kid with him, didn't he?"

"Yeah, that's right." She confirmed, "The house is in the abandoned West Stands. The boy with him was around ten years old."

"Wait, you're saying this bastard lives in town?" Jude asked, "Is he still here?"

"No, they vanished a little while back, if I'm remembering right." Nick responded as he rose from his chair, "But the house is still there. Let's all take a walk over to Kellogg's last known address. See if we can snoop out where he went."

"Security doesn't really go to that part of town," Ellie said, "But you should still be careful."

"I always am." Nick said with a smirk as we all walked out the door.

We walked down the alley, and Nick started to talk to us.

"I didn't want Ellie to hear this but I think you should know." Nick began, "Everything I've ever dug up about Kellogg before his disappearance is bad news. He's more than just a mercenary, he's a professional. Quick, clean, thorough. Has no enemies, because they're all dead… Except for you three. But nine to one odds says he's our man. It's more than just you identifying his distinguishing features. The MO is all him as well. Leading a small team to kidnap a baby, and leaving one of the parents alive for later? Not many mercs in the Commonwealth can pull that off."

Nate, Jude and I shared a look. I could see the look of fiery determination in their eyes, and knew it was mirrored in my own.

"Whatever he is… His days are numbered." Nate muttered.

We walked up the stairs and across the scaffold to the shack.

"Here we are." Nick said, "Keep an eye out, will ya? Let's see if I can get this open."

He knelt before the door, and pulled out a box of bobby pins and a screwdriver and started his attempt to pick the lock.

"That's one heck of a lock…" He muttered a minute later, "Got something to hide, Kellogg?"

The bobby pin broke.

"Damn it. Too tough. Why don't you all give it a try?"

Jude tried first, and then Nate, then I gave it a go. I wasted five bobby pins before I gave up.

"This lock is at least government grade." I said, "We're probably not getting in without a key."

"You see that platform over their by the city entrance?" Nick asked, pointing it out, "That's the elevator to the mayor's office. Why don't you go ask around there?"

"Oh great. More dealing with Mayor Douchebag." I seethed.

"I'll do it." Jude volunteered, "You two would end up shooting him. At least I have a chance at just maiming and not full on murder."

"Okay, be careful." I said.

Jude turned and jogged back down the stairs and into the city.

"You think it'll work?" Nick asked.

"He's never let us down before." Nate said.

I nodded in agreement.

**Jude's POV:**

I stepped onto the elevator and pushed the red button. The lift shuttered, and slowly began to rise. A moment later, I stepped across the gangplank and into the room. I stepped up to the secretary's desk, and nodded politely at her.

"Good evening ma'am." I said, "I need to speak with the Mayor, if that's possible."

"Of course, the mayor is happy to speak to members of the public as long as they aren't members of the press." She said, "Go ahead in."

I nodded in thanks and stepped around the desk and through the door to the mayor's office. McDonough was standing at the window, looking out over the city. I surveyed the office. The windows were thick, and I noticed that I could no longer hear anything coming from the outside, which told me it was soundproofed. I closed the door behind me and stepped forward.

"Mayor McDonough?"

He gave a small jump and turned, covering up his irritated look with a fake as hell look of jovial welcome.

Ugh. Did I mention I hate politicians?

"Ah, yes. I remember you." He said, "One of our new arrivals. I wish I was in your shoes. Getting to see our glorious city for the first time. How can I help you?"

"I'm looking for a key to a house in the city." I said, cutting to the chase, "I assume the mayor's office has a copy?"

He chuckled.

"Well, we don't have every key in the city." McDonough continued, "Where would we put them all? Hahaha. Besides, every citizen in my city has a right to their privacy. Now… if we _did_ have a key, only the owner can ask for it. That's my final word."

"This man kidnapped a child. An infant. The son of my best friend." I said heatedly, "His house is the first lead we have on finding where he went."

"I'm sorry, I really am, but there is nothing I can do."

I glared at him.

"You can glare all you want, sir." McDonough sneered, dropping the friendly act, "It's not going to work."

"Then I'll use other means." I threatened.

"I'll call for the guards." He retorted.

"I could draw this sword and behead you before you could press the panic button." I snarled, "All I have to do is press a button on my Pip Boy, and the other three will come and help. Connor, Nate and I? We're all quite adept in advanced interrogation methods. We learned that during the War. Five minutes, and I'd you'd be squealing all of your secrets like the rat faced cunt that we all know you are. And the best part? The room is sound proofed, so nobody would ever hear your screams…"

His hand flew to his belt at the same time as mine. I drew my katana and had the tip of the blade pressed into his throat.

"I am only going to ask you this one time." I snarled, "Give. Me. The. Fucking. Key. NOW!"

He shakily reached into his back pocket and pulled out a small key, holding it out in front of him. I snatched it and sheathed my sword.

"If you know what is good for you, stay the hell out of our way." I threatened, "If anybody else acts, you never saw me here. If you rat on us, you won't like the result."

With no more to say, I swept from the office and boarded the elevator.

When I arrived back at the others, Nate was throwing himself against the door in an attempt to knock it down.

"Knock it off before you hurt yourself." I scolded, "I've got the key."

"How did you get it?" Nick asked.

"McDonough might need to change his pants." I answered as I inserted the key and unlocked the door.

We all stepped inside. The walls were a rusty green, and a desk sat in the center of the room

"Let's take a look around." Nick said, "Kellogg might have left something behind."

I moved to investigate the desk and rifled through the drawers.

"Does this place seem small to you guys?" Nick asked, "I figured a guy like Kellogg would think big."

I stood back up straight and turned to look at Nick, when I noticed a red button under the desk. I reached down and pushed it, and the wall to the right of the door slid open.

"Well, that's one way to hide a room." Nick commented and we all stepped inside, "Look at this all a merc's favorite things."

"Gwinnet Stout beer, forty four caliber bullets, and cigars." Nate listed, pointing them out on the table beside the chair, "San Francisco Sunlights."

"Jesus used to smoke those." I remembered silently.

"Hmm. Interesting brand." Nick commented, "Won't lead us anywhere on its own, though."

Connor moved to all of the ammo boxes on the shelves and started emptying them into his pockets and backpack.

"I wonder if Dogmeat could pick up the scent." Nate suggested.

"Say that's not a bad idea." Nick agreed, "Some dogs out there in the Commonwealth can track a man for miles. Why don't you go fetch him and let him have a whiff? See if he picks up the trail. Also… I know that hunting Kellogg is personal business. If you three want to do it on your own just say so."

"No. We want you with us on this, Nick." I said.

"All right." Nick said, "Then let's get that bastard. This is your guys' show from here on out, okay? You say jump, I'll say how high."

As it turned out, Dogmeat was waiting for us right outside the door. Nate put the cigar to his nose.

"Get the scent boy."

Dogmeat sniffed.

"Huh. I'm trusting my family's future to a dog." Nate mumbled to himself, "That's it. I'm officially crazy."

"No more than usual, brother." Connor said jokingly.

Dogmeat took off, and the hunt was on.

***********

After stopping several times to pick the trail back up, we arrived at what was left of Fort Hagen. The front door was barricaded shut with boards, sand bags and blocks of concrete. Dogmeat scratched at the sandbags for a moment before turning to us with a yip.

"Is this the place?" Nate asked, "Is he in here boy?"

Dogmeat barked.

"I knew Dogmeat would sniff our man out." Nick said, "Let's all take it from here, give our four legged friend a break."

"How should we go in?" Connor asked.

"Parking garage should have an entrance." I guessed.

It did, and no sooner had we stepped inside then we were being shot at.

It took us a good half hour to fight through the mass of Synths before we reached a room with an elevator. We took it down. After a moment a voice echoed over the PA system.

"Well, if it isn't my friend the frozen TV dinner."

Nate froze and shuddered.

"That's him." He snarled, "I'd recognize that voice anywhere."

As soon as the elevator door opened, Nate took off running, leaving us all in the dust with his gun blazing.

As we slowly approached the control room, Kellogg would make more announcements. Taunting us. Trying to get under our skin. Eventually, after expending a considerable amount of ammunition, we reached the door to the control room.

"Okay, you made it." Kellogg announced, "I'm just up ahead. My Synths are standing down. Let's talk."

The door unlocked, and we charged through the door, our guns draws. The lights flickered on, and Kellogg stepped out of the shadows with his hands raised. The four Synth guards circled the room.

"And there they are." He said, "The most resistant men in the Commonwealth. Funny. I thought I had that honor."

Nate stepped forward, his gun not holstered but at his side.

"So here we are. Funny, huh?" Kellogg asked dryly.

"You murdering, kidnapping psychopath." Nate spat, "Give me my son. Give me Shaun! NOW!"

"Right to it then, huh?" Kellogg said, "Okay. Fine. Your son Shaun? Great kid. A little older than you may have expected, but I'm sure you figured that out by now. But if you're hoping for a happy reunion? Ain't gonna happen, pal. Your boy's not here."

Nate's fists clenched in fury as our hearts dropped into our stomachs at the realization we were too late.

I turned to Connor and Nick.

"When the fight breaks out, take out the Synths." I told them, "Let Nate take care of Kellogg."

They nodded in agreement as Nate got angrier.

"Goddamn it, you mercenary motherfucker," Nate snarled, "WHERE. IS. MY. SON?!"

"What's the cliché?" Kellogg asked, " _So close, but yet so far away_? That's Shaun. But don't worry, you'll die knowing he's safe, and happy. A bit older than you expected, but ah well. At least he's in a loving home… the Institute."

"So where is it? Huh? This Institute?" Nate spat, "How do I get there?"

"Heh. Haven't you been paying attention?" Kellogg asked dryly, "You don't find the Institute, the Institute finds you. You open the closet, it's just a closet. You can never find the monster that hides inside. Not until it jumps out at you. But I think we've been talking long enough. We both know how this has to end. So… you ready?"

Nate took a step back.

"You know?" Nate said calmly, "In a hundred years when I finally die… I only hope I go to hell, so I can kill you all over again you piece of shit. NOW GUYS!"

We all drew our guns and with only four bullets we dispatched the Synths. Nate leapt on Kellogg, taking them both to the floor. He started punching.

"You took my SON!" Nate screamed, punctuating each word with a punch, "You killed my WIFE! YOU SON OF A BITCH!"

Kellogg threw Nate off of him.

"You're stronger than I expected." He said, wiping the blood from his mouth, "Too bad it's not going to help you."

He drew his revolver, but I was waiting for him. I used V.A.Ts and aimed, shooting the gun out of his hand. His head whipped around and his gaze landing on us, and his look of surprise told me he had forgot we were there.

Nate stepped forward, drawing his own pistol. He raised it, pointing it right between Kellogg's eyes.

"You messed with the wrong people." He growled, "I don't care how long it takes, I'll rip the Earth apart if that's what it takes. I'll find the Institute, and I'm gonna burn it to the fucking ground."

He pulled the trigger, the pistol bucked with a bang, and the back of Kellogg's head exploded outward. He fell to the floor with a thud, and there was silence.

We stood still for a short moment, hardly believing it. Nate stared down at Kellogg's body for a moment before he started looting it.

"Good job." Nick praised, "That bastard won't be hurting anybody else. We should take a look around, pick up all the Intel this place can hide."

We left him to it while we looted the surrounding room.

"Good god. He's got a lot of tech plugged into him." Nate said, "He was barely human."

Connor meanwhile, hacked the computer.

"Kellogg wasn't lying." He said, "His logs are on here. Shaun is at the Institute. Said he had new orders to track down a renegade."

"So he really is on the inside." Nick said ponderingly, "Even I don't know where the Institute is, and they built me."

"There has to be a way, Nick." Nate said.

"*Sigh* We're in the weeds here." Nick said, "Time to take a step back, and bring in some fresh eyes. The only person I know brave enough to sniff up the Institute's tail feathers is Piper, the reporter in Diamond City. I say we head her way, talk things through."

Connor, Nate and I share a confused look.

"How could Piper help us?" I asked.

"Trust me, that dame knows a lot more than she lets on." Nick said, "And she lets on a lot. If I know her, she's done her homework, and we need to talk this through with someone."

"Diamond City it is." Nate said with a sad sigh.

"Hey, chin up." Nick said gently, "I know the night just got darker, but it won't last forever."

Nick turned away and headed out the door into the hallway. Connor and I stepped closer to Nate.

"You okay?" I asked.

"We were too late." Nate said, a tear falling, "Shaun…"

"We know, buddy." Connor said softly as he drew Nate into a tight hug, "We know. We'll get him back. I promise."

After composing ourselves, we followed Nick down the hallway until we came to an elevator. We got in and pressed the button to the room.

We walked out onto the roof of the building. We had been in the building so long it was now night.

"How long do you think it'll take to get to Diamond City?" I asked.

Nobody answered.

"Um… Guys?" I asked, turning to them.

They were all looking up. SO naturally I looked up too just as a shadow suddenly cast over us and the surrounding area.

"Ho-ly _shit_." I swore.

The ship was massive. It was a giant metal zeppelin, and it was being escorted by a fleet of Vertibirds. It loomed menacingly over the Commonwealth, an impressive show of power.

"People of the Commonwealth!" A voice broadcasted, "Do not interfere! Our intentions are peaceful! We are the Brotherhood Of Steel!"

I whirled around and met Connor and Nate's eyes.

"Did they just say…?" Connor started.

"Yeah. Brotherhood of Steel." I confirmed, "Looks like Roger survived the Great War after all… and expanded our old unit."

"Deep into that darkness peering," Nick muttered gravely, "Long I stood there, wondering. Fearing."

We turned to him.

"You okay?"

"I've heard a lot about the Brotherhood." Nick explained, "Mostly they operate on the West Coast. Hoarders of technology. The only chapter on the east coast operates out of what's left of the Pentagon down in the Capitol Wasteland. They're powerful."

"I can see that." Nate said.

"Flying that ship into the heart of the Commonwealth…" Nick continued, "Mark my words, the Brotherhood is here to start a war."

"We'll worry about it later." I said, "For now let's get back to Diamond City."

Nothing else was said. As we walked, I stared after the ship.

I couldn't help but get a bad feeling in the pit of my stomach that the Brotherhood was bad news. I mean, our old friend may have founded it, but a lot can happen in two hundred ten years.


	7. The Brotherhood Of Steel

We were on our way through Cambridge when the distress signal from a Brotherhood outpost rang through our Pip Boys. After investigation, we discovered a group under attack by Feral Ghouls at the Cambridge Police Station. We helped, and were then drafted into assisting them by their Paladin, a stiff soldier named Danse. We accompanied him to ArcJet Systems to recover a transmitter to repair their communications array. Inside we got our first taste of what it was like to fight Synths, because the place was crawling with them. We retrieved the transmitter, and our presence was requested onboard the blimp.

When we arrived back at the police station, we boarded a Vertibird, and within minutes we were onboard the ship. The ship was called the Prydwen, and it was a massive zeppelin powered by a nuclear reactor that had been scavenged from a nuclear aircraft carrier that had beached itself down in Washington DC. We were directed to a room where other soldiers were waiting. Within minutes, the door opened and all the soldiers stood at attention.

In walked a young man, who could not be older than twenty years old. He was tall, muscular, with his haircut short on the side. He wore a thick beard, had intense eyes, and a scar on his cheek that looked like a claw mark. Over his black jumpsuit, he wore a thick battle coat that anybody could tell was armored. Elder Maxson was an impressive figure, there was no doubt about that. Something about him though, did not sit well with me.

"At ease." He said, and everybody relaxed.

He stood there and observed the group for a moment before beginning his speech.

"Brothers and Sisters, the road behind us has been long and fraught with difficulty." Maxson began, "Each and every one of you has surpassed my expectations by rapidly facilitating our arrival in the Commonwealth. You have accomplished this amazing feat without a hint of purpose or direction, and most impressively, without question."

"He's got Roger's charisma." Nate pointed out, and Jude and I nodded in agreement.

"Now that the ship is in position, it is the time to reveal our purpose and our mission." Maxson continued as he paced the flight deck, "Beneath the Commonwealth, there is a cancer known as "The Institute", a malignant growth that needs to be cut before it infects the surface. They are experimenting with dangerous technologies that could prove to be the world’s undoing for the second time in recent history. The Institute Scientists have created a weapon that transcends the destructive nature of the atom bomb. They call their creation the "synth", a robotic abomination of technology that is freethinking and masquerades as a human being. This notion that a machine can be granted free will is not only offensive, but also horribly dangerous. And like the atom, if it is not harnessed properly, it has the potential of rendering us extinct as a species. I am not prepared to allow the Institute to continue this line of experimentation. Therefore, the Institute and their "Synths" are considered enemies of the Brotherhood of Steel, and should be dealt with swiftly and mercilessly. This campaign will be costly and many lives will be lost. But in the end, we will be saving humankind from its worst enemy... itself. Ad Victoriam!"

By the end of the speech, my heart had sunk into my stomach. I turned to the others, who looked equally horrified.

"He's not just planning a war, he's plotting an extermination." Nick said, not hiding the horror in his voice, "Genocide of a race just beginning and not even given the chance to flourish."

"We made a mistake coming here." Jude said, "We need to leave."

He had barely finished the sentence before Maxson approached us.

"Gentlemen." He said, completely ignoring Nick's presence.

"We were just leaving." Jude said, "We were considering joining, but have decided otherwise."

"And why is that?" Maxson asked.

"We have a difference in philosophy that would make any kind of allegiance impossible." Jude said.

"Explain." Maxson demanded.

"We disagree on your opinion of Synths." I stated firmly.

"Synths look human, they act human, and the ones that escape to the Railroad actually believe they are human." Jude argued, "You're using the Synths as a scapegoat. Blaming a race of people for a region's problems. A tried and true method of manipulating and brainwashing a population into following your orders. It worked for the Nazi's in World War II, so why wouldn't it work now for the god dammed Brotherhood of Steel?"

"How dare you compare us the them?" Maxson balked, "We are nothing like them…"

"You're using a whole race as a scapegoat for the world's problems and plan to exterminate them…" Nate interjected, "How is it nothing like it?"

"Because the Synths are abominations! Abuses of technology." Maxson growled, "The potential damage a machine with near free will could cause would be catastrophic."

"It is not your place, your job, to play god with the future of the Commonwealth or a race of people." I rebuked.

"It is the Brotherhood's job to safeguard technology, and use it properly to keep it from endangering the world." Maxson continued, "That's the way it's been since we were founded."

"Your last name is Maxson." I said, "Your founder was Roger Maxson, wasn't it?"

"Yes." Maxson continued, "We operate by his rules as they were written at the beginning, in the Founder's Axioms of the Codex. We still strive to fulfill his original mission."

"If you believe that, then you've become blind to what that mission really was." I continued, my voice heavy with disappointment.

"And what gives you the right to say that?" Maxson growled.

"I have that right because we actually _knew_ Roger Maxson."

Maxson looked at me as if I had grown three heads.

"That's impossible." He retorted, "Roger Maxson died in 2135 from cancer in the Lost Hills Bunker in California. That was one hundred fifty two years ago."

"We're a lot older than we look." Jude said, "We were members of an experimental medical trial from Vault Tec in 2025. The drug they gave us cured my husband's cancer, and gave a permanent boost to our healing capabilities, as well as slowed down our aging."

"Then we were frozen in cryostasis in Vault 111 for 200 years." I continued, "And we fought next to Roger Maxson many times during the war. The name _Brotherhood of Steel_ comes from the name of our old squad. It was Jude, Nate, Roger and I. He called us that because we were brothers in all but blood, and we never went into battle without our power armor. We were the original four. He was a very close friend of mine! If Jude and I had ever had kids, he and Nate would have been the godfathers. He was a good man, a noble man of honor, dignity, and fierce loyalty. He held no prejudices, and tolerated no bigotry amongst his men. If he saw you now, if he heard what you were preaching, he would be absolutely ashamed of you. You may be a Maxson, but it is only in blood and name. Your ideals and beliefs besmirch his good name. If he saw what his Brotherhood had become, he would turn over in his grave. He would _never_ allow anybody belonging to his organization to commit genocide."

I took a couple of steps back.

"You want the Institute gone?" I continued, "Fine. We will do it ourselves. We have the Minutemen at our command, the three of us are its generals. Our forces are expanding at a rapid rate. Under our orders, Colonel Garvey and a squad of men recaptured the Castle two days ago. We have our headquarters back. Within weeks, we will be ready. So stay out of our way."

"Is that a threat, Stevens?" Maxson snarled.

"No. It's a warning." I answered, "Get in our way, and it'll be war."

"And you think you'd actually stand a chance?" Maxson scoffed, "I've got this ship and an army of troops in power armor at my command."

"I know we'll win." I retorted, "We fought in the Recourse Wars against China. Compared to the Chinese Armed Forces, you people are petulant children in Power Armor."

We held eye contact for about thirty seconds, and Maxson was the first to look away.

"Heed my warning, Maxson." I said, "We are not the people you want as an enemy. All Piper has to do is run an article in her newspaper vilifying you, and you'll have the populace against you, as well as the Minutemen and the Railroad."

My warning finished, we all turned our backs on the Brotherhood of Steel. As we were escorted back to a Vertibird to disembark the Prydwen, I felt a pang of sadness knowing that one of the only connections we had to the old world was a megalomaniacal dictator.

The trek back to Diamond City was long and miserable, and when we finally stumbled back into Piper's office, she knew something was wrong,

"What happened?" Piper asked as she ushered us to sit down.

"We were too late." I answered, "Kellogg was working with the Institute. He gave them Shaun."

"The Institute? Oh boy." Piper breathed, her eyes widening, "I've been investigating these creeps for over a year now. The Commonwealth's Boogeyman. Feared and hated by everyone."

"We've heard." Jude said, "Tell us more, Piper. How they operate, that kind of thing. What do they do?"

"Sometimes they snatch people in the middle of the night." Piper answered, "And sometimes they leave old Synths behind to remind us that they're out there. But to this day there's one thing nobody really knows…"

"…Where the Institute actually is." Nick finished her sentence, "Or how to get in."

"And the only person who might know, is dead." I interjected, "Dead and looted on the floor of an old Fort's basement."

"Still though, Kellogg would have had in and out access." Jude said.

"Still… kidnapper gets his brains blown out by an avenging parent." Piper said, "Huh. It'd be a perfect ending if we didn't still have the biggest mystery in the Commonwealth to solve."

" _Get's his brains blown out_..." Nick said, "Heh, his brains… You know, we might not need the man at all."

We all look at him like he has a few screws loose in his mechanical head.

"Um… we kind of do, though." Jude said confused, "Kind of important, try to keep up."

"He's right. You're talking crazy Nick. You got a fault in the old subroutines." Piper joked.

"Look… there's this place in Goodneighbor called the Memory Den." Nick continued, "Relive the past moments in your mind as clear as the day they happened. If anybody can get a dead brain to sing, it'd be Dr. Amari, the mind behind the memories."

"I hope you're right, Nick." Nate said.

"Let's see, I guess we're gonna need a piece of Kellogg's brain." Nick continued, "Enough grey matter to bring to Amari to see if this is going to work."

"Okay, that's kind of nasty." I said.

"I know it's grizzly, but what choice do we have?" Nick said.

"He's right." Jude agreed, "We don't have any other leads. If this works, Kellogg's brain and his memories might be handing us a key to the Institute's front door."

Nate reached into his pack, and withdrew a small mass of wires, chips, and brain.

"This was attached to his head." He said, "He was barely human. More cybernetics in him than flesh."

"We may have just won the lottery." Nick said.

"What happens when we finally find them?" Jude asked.

"We take the fight to them." I insisted, "The Institute kidnaps people, Shaun included. They terrorize the Commonwealth with their very existence. They have to be stopped. The only question is how we do it? We'd need an army…"

"Like you said aboard the Prydwen, we have the Minutemen." Jude pointed out, "If we rebuild it, we can raise an army."

"It could take some time." Nate said, "We have Preston, and he's already started recruiting. We give the order for them to help every settlement they can, and recruit them to the cause. There are plenty of people out there who need our help. If we helped enough people, we could have our army within weeks. Training them, getting them ready for battle and invasion of the Institute."

"Plus we'll need to retake the Castle." I pointed out, "Before the Brotherhood goes to investigate. The bluff will hold for a while, but we need to retake the fort if we're going anywhere with this."

"Well, whether or not we're all riding the crazy brain train or not, we can't all go running across the Commonwealth." Piper said, "So you guys should head to Goodneighbor. You guys were saying that Colonel Garvey might need help to retake the Castle, I could head up to Sanctuary and tell him that it's the next step."

"Good idea, Piper." Nate said, "Every Minuteman that can be spared, he's gonna need. Might wanna take Codsworth too."

"Who's Codsworth?" Piper asked.

"My Mr. Handy." Nate answered, "He's got a saw and a flamethrower. He'll be a big help, trust me. Tell Preston to use the suit of Power Armor if he thinks he'll need it."

"I will." Piper said, "You guys be careful, okay? Good luck in Goodneighbor."

"Thanks Piper, good luck to you too." I said, as Piper left the building.

Nate immediately deflates.

"It's gonna be fine, Nate." I assured him.

"Yeah." Nick agreed, "We're gonna get your boy back. Just a few more steps."

 

 


End file.
